Effect of peroxide treatment on the structure and transparency of bacterial cellulose film

¹ Master Program of Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School, Universitas Negeri Malang, 65145 Malang, Indonesia
² Mechanical Engineering Department, Engineering Faculty, Universitas Negeri Malang, 65145 Malang, Indonesia
³ Chemical Department, Mathematics and Natural Sciences Faculty, Universitas Negeri Malang, 65145 Malang, Indonesia
⁴ Fisheries and Marine Sciences Faculty, Brawijaya University, 65145 Malang, Indonesia

^* Corresponding author: heru.suryanto.ft@um.ac.id

Abstract

The cellulose extracts from plants are need of energy and have potential in damaging the environment so that an alternative cellulose source with more efficient results is by using bacteria to produce the cellulose fibers. This study aims to determine the effect of hydrogen peroxide (H₂O₂) treatment on the structure and transparency of biopolymer bacterial cellulose film (BCF). The method used is the making of BCF by utilizing pineapple peel extract and then cooking at 80°C for 120 min. with H₂O₂ concentration of 0%, 2.5%, 5%, and 7,5%. Drying is done in the electric oven and then observed the structure and morphology using X-ray diffraction and transparency test, respectively. The result of structure observation shows that the intensity of the highest diffraction peak lies at a diffraction angle of 22° achieved at 5% peroxide treatment with crystallinity and crystal index of 85.1% and 82.4%, respectively. Transparency testing shows that the higher the concentration of peroxide used, the better the transparency.