The effect of adding polyethylene glycol to the structure of bacterial cellulose membrane made from pineapple peel waste

Abstract

As a large producer of pineapples, Indonesia also produces much pineapple peel waste. An effort to reduce this waste is to utilize it as a culture medium to produce bacterial cellulose (BC) pellicle. BC has properties of high mechanical strength, crystallinity, hydrophilicity, and high purity. This study produces a new biocomposite using BC pellicle with adding polyethylene glycol (PEG). This study aims to observe the effect of adding PEG4000 on BC/PEG biocomposite membrane structure. BC pellicle was produced using pineapple peel extract as medium fermentation and Acetobacter xylinum as a fermentation agent. After the fermentation process, produced pellicle was immersed in PEG 4000 at different concentrations (1, 2.5, and 5%wt). After that, the BC was dried using the freeze-drying method. The biocomposite BC/PEG4000 membrane was observed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The XRD result showed the BC membrane has diffractogram peaks found at 28 of 14, 16, and 22°. The addition of PEG4000 causes diffractogram new peaks at 28 of 19°. The higher addition of PEG4000 produces higher peak intensity.