THE EFFECT OF THERMOPRESSING TIME VARIATION FOR THE PACKAGING CHARACTERISTICS OF BIODEGRADABLE FOAM BASED ON TAPIOCA STARCH AND CORN HUSK POWDER

• Main Author: Salsabila, Khoerunisa
• Format: Final Project
• Language: Indonesia
• Online Access: https://digilib.itb.ac.id/gdl/view/75058
• Institution: Institut Teknologi Bandung

The use of styrofoam as packaging for a product, especially fruits, has been widely used. Its advantages such as being cheap, easy to shape, and resistant to hot or cold temperatures make styrofoam in great demand by various industries as a fruit packaging material. However, despite its advantages, styrofoam can endanger human health and is difficult to decompose in nature, thus polluting the environment. To overcome these problems, we need packaging that is environmentally friendly and has almost the same characteristics as styrofoam. Biofoam or biodegradable foam is an alternative packaging material to replace styrofoam because it is made from natural raw materials in the form of starch with added fiber and other natural materials that function as structural reinforcement of biofoam. Corn husk is one of the fibers that can be used because it has quite high cellulose, which is equal to 44.08%. The high cellulose content can be used as a filler in biofoam. This study aims to determine the effect of thermopressing time on the characteristics of biofoam made from starch and corn husk powder. This study used a completely randomized design (CRD) using variations of the thermopressing method at 7 minutes, 9 minutes, 11 minutes, and 13 minutes and using a printing temperature of 170 ? with a pressure of 1 MPa. The characteristics of biofoam were obtained by testing its density, tensile strength, water absorption, and biodegradability. The best biofoam characteristic results are biofoam with a thermopressing time of 13 minutes because it has a density value of 0.282 g/cm3; tensile strength of 2.20 N/mm2; water absorption of 23.76%; and biodegradability of 8.57%. When compared with the research results of Synbra Technology and the EPS Industry, the values for density, tensile strength, and biodegradability are better because they have lower density values, higher tensile strength, and higher biodegradability. Although, the water absorption is still below that of the study.