The extraction of cellulose powder of water hyacinth (Eichhornia crassipes) as reinforcing agents in bioplastic

Abstract

Recently, there has been considerable attention in the development of biodegradable plastic. Our current use and disposal of synthetic-based conventional plastics caused high rates of land-fill problems because of its persistence in the environment. Many renewable resources have been used as a source of starch and cellulose as bioplastic constituents. One of the most available biomasses that have not been explored is water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes). In the present study, we investigated the fabrication of biodegradable plastic made with a matrix of 3% and 5% mixture of starch and cellulose extracted from water hyacinth in different weight ratios of 10:0, 9:1, 8:2, and 7:3. The addition of water hyacinth cellulose was purposed as a reinforcing agent to improve the performances of the starch bioplastics. Chitosan with a matrix of 1% was also added to improve the mechanical function of starch bioplastic. There were two main steps performed to isolate water hyacinth cellulose, i.e., bleaching and alkali treatment. The chemical and physical characteristics of starch-based bioplastics and their composites were then analyzed by Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Moreover, the tensile strength and bioplastic degradation tests were also conducted to study the performance and biodegradability. The FTIR data shows that the functional group’s absorption revealed corresponds to the pure cellulose indicating the successful cellulose isolation from water hyacinth. The tensile strength of bioplastic starch- chitosan increases with the addition of water hyacinth cellulose. The improvement of the physical properties of bioplastic starch was achieved through the addition of chitosan and water hyacinth. The mixture of starch-chitosan combined with water hyacinth cellulose produces environmentally friendly bioplastics shown by the increased mechanical and physical properties compared to starch-alone bioplastic.