Characteristics of Eucheuma cottonii waste from East Malaysia: physical, thermal and chemical composition

The aim of this paper was to examine the characteristics of Eucheuma cottonii waste in order to analyse its potential as renewable material. The morphology of Eucheuma cottonii (raw and wastes) was investigated through scanning electron microscopy (SEM), the thermal behaviour through thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) and the physical properties through FT-IR, XRD, gas pycnometer, particle size analyser, water absorption and moisture content analysis. The chemical compositions were determined by using acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent lignin (ADL) analysis. It was found that Eucheuma cottonii wastes have better thermal stability, higher crude fibre content, lower moisture content and similar density to the raw Eucheuma cottonii, which suggests that these biomass wastes have good potential as renewable filler material

Degradation and physical properties of sugar palm starch/ sugar palm nanofibrillated cellulose bionanocomposite

This paper aims to study the degradation rate of sugar palm nanofibrillated cellulose (SPNFCs) and sugar palm starch (SPS). SPNFCs were isolated from sugar palm fiber, while SPS is extracted from sugar palm trunk. The SPNFCs were reinforced with SPS biopolymer as biodegradable reinforcement materials of different diameter/length based on the number of passes of high pressurize homogenization process (5, 10 and 15 passes represented by SPS/SPNFCs-5, SPS/SPNFCs-10, and SPS/SPNFCs-15). These SPNFCs were incorporated into SPS plasticized with glycerol and sorbitol via solution casting method. Soil burial experiment performed on SPS and SPS/SPNFCs bionanocomposites showed that SPS was degraded more rapidly by losing 85.76% of its mass in 9 days compared to 69.89% by SPS/SPNFCs-15 bionanocomposite. The high compatibility between SPNFCs nanofiber and SPS biopolymer matrices can be observed through field emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM)

Effect Of Sugar Palm Nanofibrillated Cellulose Concentrations On Morphological, Mechanical And Physical Properties Of Biodegradable Films Based On Agro-Waste Sugar Palm (Arenga Pinnata (Wurmb.) Merr) Starch

Sugar palm (Arenga pinnata) fibres and starches are considered as agro-industrial residue in the agricultural industry. This paper aims to investigate the effect of different concentrations (0–1.0 wt%) of sugar palm nanofibrillated cellulose (SPNFCs) reinforced sugar palm starch (SPS) on morphological, mechanical and physical properties of the bionanocomposites film. The SPNFCs, having a diameter of 5.5 ± 0.99 nm and length of several micrometres, were prepared from sugar palm fibres via a high-pressure homogenisation process. FESEM investigation of casting solution displayed good miscibility between SPS and SPNFCs. The FTIR analysis revealed good compatibility between the SPS and SPNFCs, and there were existence of intermolecular hydrogen bonds between them. The SPS/sPNFCs with 1.0 wt% had undergone an increment in both the tensile strength and Young’s modulus when compared with the SPS film, from 4.80 MPa to 10.68 MPa and 53.97 MPa to 121.26 MPa, respectively. The enhancement in water barrier resistance was led by reinforcing SPNFCs into the matrix, which resulted in bionanocomposites. The properties of bionanocomposites will be enhanced for short-life applications, such as recyclable container and plastic packaging through the incorporation of SPNFCs within the SPS bionanocomposites

Effect of seaweed on mechanical, thermal, and biodegradation properties of thermoplastic sugar palm starch/agar composites

The aim of this paper is to investigate the characteristics of thermoplastic sugar palm starch/agar (TPSA) blend containing Eucheuma cottonii seaweed waste as biofiller. The composites were prepared by melt-mixing and hot pressing at 140 °C for 10 min. The TPSA/seaweed composites were characterized for their mechanical, thermal and biodegradation properties. Incorporation of seaweed from 0 to 40 wt.% has significantly improved the tensile, flexural, and impact properties of the TPSA/seaweed composites. Scanning electron micrograph of the tensile fracture showed homogeneous surface with formation of cleavage plane. It is also evident from TGA results that thermal stability of the composites were enhanced with addition of seaweed. After soil burial for 2 and 4 weeks, the biodegradation of the composites was enhanced with addition of seaweed. Overall, the incorporation of seaweed into TPSA enhances the properties of TPSA for short-life product application such as tray, plate, etc

Effect of Agar on Flexural, Impact, and Thermogravimetric Properties of Thermo- plastic Sugar Palm Starch

Development of new polymer from renewable resources is getting serious attention from researchers due to environmental issue caused by petroleum based polymer. The aim of this paper is to study the behavior of sugar palm starch (SPS) based thermoplastic containing agar in the range from 10 to 40 wt%. The thermoplastics were melt-mixed and then hot pressed at 140oC for 10 minutes followed by flexural, impact, and thermogravimetric analysis. Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) showed that incorporation of agar increased the char residue content from 9.17 to 10.87 wt%. For mechanical properties, the addition of agar had improve the flexural strength and modulus of SPS/agar blends. The impact strength of thermoplastic SPS was increased respectively with addition of agar. However, at higher agar content (30 wt% to 40 wt%), the impact strength was decreased which attributed to high rigidity of material at this ratio. In conclusion, incorporation of agar has improved the flexural, impact, and thermal properties of thermoplastic SPS which widened the potential application of this biopolymer in future

Performance of thermoplastic sugar palm starch biopolymers

Starch is a natural polymer obtained by the photosynthesis process of plants from the regeneration of carbon dioxide. Starch is not a real polymer, but the presence of a plasticizer (water and glycerol at high temperature). Sugar Palm Biofibers, Biopolymers, & Biocomposites makes starch behave like a synthetic polymer. In the presence of a plasticizer (e.g., water, glycerin, or sorbitol) and shearing action, a starch bio-polymer melts and fluidizes so it can be used in injection molding and extrusion, as in the case of synthetic thermoplastic polymers. Many researchers are interested in investigating starch as a biopolymer because of its unique attributes: it is low-cost, renewable, abundant, and available in different forms based on the raw materials used. Biopolymers such as the ones made from starches are superior to some synthetic polymers in terms of resistance to microbial attack and biodegradation. The sugar palm tree (Arenga pinnata) contains starch in its trunk, which can be a good source of biopolymer. In terms of thermal properties, both starches show similar peak gelatiniza-tion temperatures of approximately 67°C. Meanwhile, SPS shows lower crystallin-ity and swelling power than sago. In terms of gel structure, gel made with SPS was more rigid than gel made with sago starch at a high concentration. However, limited research had been carried out to investigate the potential of SPS in biopolymers