REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES

This chapter is a completion of related studies both foreign and local which have direct
bearing and relevance to the present study.

Plastics

Plastic is widely used as a conventional material in terms of packaging, synthetic

materials and other things that is essential to life Johnson (2019). According to Bradford (2017),
Plastic is made up of polymers. polymers are materials that was made up of long-chained and
repeating molecules. They are used for widely variety of products like grocery bags, water
bottles, food packaging and textile fibers.

As studied by Knight (2014), A thousand of years ago the civilizations of the Olmecs in
Mexico, played balls with a natural polymer called rubber. The medieval craftsmen made a
lantern windows out of the translucent pieces of animal horns. Horns are made up of a natural
keratin. Keratin is a mixed of carbon-nitrogen polymer and it is naturally found in wool and
human hair. In the late 1840s, the American inventor, Charles Goodyear and the British Thomas
Hancock revolutionized rubber by vulcanizing and mixing rubber with sulphur to make it
durable and it is resulted to what the people known today as tires. In 1846, Charles Schonbein,
a Swiss chemist accidentally discovered a polymer by spilling a nitric acid and sulfuric acid
mixture into cotton. Alexander Parkes introduced the first man-made plastic in 1862 at the
London International Exhibition and it was called as Parkesine. It was marketed as an
alternative material to ivory and horns. The discovery of Parkes was improved by John Wesley
Hyatt in 1869 by developing the first synthetic polymer. His invention used Celluloid that was
derived from cellulose and alcoholized camphor and it can be molded by the use of heat. As
eloquently stated by Freudenrich (2018), in 1909, Leo Baekeland a Belgian chemist was
formulated the first true synthetic polymer from the mixture of phenol and formaldehyde and it
was called as Bakelite. In the 1930s, Wallace Carruthers invented a plastic polymer from adipic
acid and a type of diaminohexane monomers that can be formed as nylon. In the 1933s- 1945s,
many types of plastic were arisen from the market like Polyethylene and Polystyrene. In the
1950s, plastics was innovated into a thermoplastic that can withstand any type of temperature
and this plastic also was made into plastic bags and plastic bottles.

According to Parker (2018), More than 6.9 Billion of tons of plastics are collected each
year and it accumulates our ocean. There are many species that are suffering from excessive
waste of plastic. Glazner (2015) mentioned in her study that there’s a connection between
climate change and plastic pollution. Plastic pollution is one of the factors of sudden change in
our earth’s surface as a result of climate change. The waterways of each community was also
affected by plastic pollution. When a typhoon approaches the community, the waterways are
stuck in plastics and eventually it will lead to the obstruction of flow of water and it may result
to floods that can affect the citizens, livelihood stock and the economy. According to Subido
(2019), Philippines ranks in 3rd place in terms of plastic pollution. Filipinos use 163 million
plastic sachet packets, 48 million of plastic bag and 45 million of wrappers and thin film bags in
a day. The recent study of Global Alliance for Incinerator Alternatives (GAIA) in 2018, it was
revealed that there are many wastes of plastic used by the Filipinos each day and it was
alarming. The agency also said that the waste from plastic pollutes the waterways of each city
and it was prevalent in squatter and coastal areas. There are also landfill areas that cannot
accept a number of plastic waste and leads to more pollution. Mike Wright; Ashley Kirk; Mark
Molloy; Emma Mills (2018), indicated that it will take 1000 years in order for the plastic to
decompose and it poses a number of hazards to the environment. As studied by Borunda
(2019), plastic poses threats to the marine animals and micro particles of plastic ends up being
eaten by the aquatic animals. In 2019, a pregnant whale was found dead and when the
scientists inspect the cadaver of the animal, they found out that there’s have 50 pounds (ca. 23
kg) of plastic in its stomach. The environmentalists were alarmed, and they informed people
about the effects of using plastic, and they also suggest that people should use bio plastic as an
alternative to conventional plastic.
Bio- Plastic

According to Woodford (2019), bio-plastic means that the material are made of
renewable materials that are from starches of plants He also added that the bio-plastic is better
and effective when it is easy to dissolve in water and decompose. The polylactide acid found in
the starch of the plants can be resembled as a natural polymer and it also generates
polyhydroxyalkanoate, a type of microorganisms that affects the composition of bio-plastic in
making it biodegradable. According to Active Sustainability (2017), bio-plastics are 100 percent
degradable, versatile and resistant and can be used to combat plastic pollution. Cho (2017)
mentioned in her study that there have several types of bio-plastic. First is the degradable
which can be easy to decompose but it disintegrates quickly when it was exposed in the heat.
Second is the Biodegradable which can be broken down by water, carbon dioxide and
decompose by microorganisms and lastly the Compostable type of bio plastic that can be
biodegrade in a compost site and it doesn’t leave any toxic residue.

According to Arikan, E. and, Ozsoy, H. (2015), they are advantages and disadvantages of
using bio-plastics. For the advantages: (1) Bio-plastics are made of renewable sources than the
plastics made from synthetic materials ;(2) Bio-plastics generates fewer green-house gases and
it contains no toxins and it eases the effects of global warming ;(3) Bio-plastics are energy
efficient They use less energy than conventional plastics ;(4) Bio-plastics offers a wide variety of
zero waste end of life options ;(5) Bio plastics will reduce the amount of plastic waste ;(6)
Organisms can be benefit from the nutrients of the bio-plastic after it decompose ;(7) Bio-
plastic will help the environment to replenish its sources. As for the disadvantages: (1) Bio-
plastics costs twice the price of the conventional plastics ;(2) Bio-plastics have recycling
problems and it can contaminate the recycling process ;(3) Bio-plastics reduces the amount of
raw materials ;(4) Bio plastics lacks proper legislation. Many countries have not used any law in
using bio-plastic as an alternative to conventional plastic.

Factors that Affects the Solubility of a Bio-Plastic

 Solubility is a chemical property that refers to the ability of a substance to dissolve in a
solvent. The following are the factors that affects the solubility of a bio-plastic according to C. K-
12 (2018):

Temperature

Temperature can affect solubility. The solution will be made fast if the temperature
increases, the particles moves faster which make them interact more with the solvent particles.
As the temperature increases the solute particles will be more dissolved thus making high
temperature making the particles to be dissolve easily than normal to low temperature.

Stirring

Stirring doesn’t have effects on solubility however it makes the process of dissolving
quick. If the liquid substance is constant, it will still solute but it takes longer.

pH

Solubility depends on the pH of the water. pH varies between bases and acidic. If the pH
of the solution is such that a particular molecule carries no net electric powered charge, the
solute frequently has minimal solubility and precipitates out of the solution. The pH at which
the net charge is neutral is referred to as the isoelectric point. The testing of pH level is usually
gathered by the use of litmus paper. Litmus paper is a kind of paper that changes its color
depends on the acidity of the solution. Yellow litmus paper turns into red under acidic exposure
below 4.5 while yellow litmus paper turns into blue under alkaline exposure above 8.3. pH
scale by Helmenstine (2019). According to Chaurasia (2018), acidic pH affects the solubility by
making the solution and particles to dissolved faster while neutral and alkaline causes the
solution to be more partial and dissolved with time.

Table 1: pH Scale
 pH Scale colors according to litmus paper

Acidic Neutral Alkaline

Red Dark Green Navy Green

Orange Sky Blue

Yellow orange Cyan

Yellow Blue

Green Yellow Light Blue

Camouflage Green Indigo

Light Green Dark Blue

Factors that Affects the Durability of a Bio- Plastic

Biodegradable plastic is also known as bio-plastic means a plastic derived from a

biological substances rather than from petroleum. According to Szaky (2015), biodegradable
plastics of any composition are not the long-term sustainable solution we need. When we
compost a biodegradable plastic product such as plastic cup, that polymer can no longer be a
reusable and maintained, means all the material and energy will be gone or lost in the soil. Also,
it can make sense in certain occurrences, mainly in a large volume of organic landfill waste
country. Durable bio plastics that can be recycled present to with a more attainable opportunity
to ease our dependence on oil-based plastics, but lifelike offsetting our dependence the
petroleum polymer first requires lessen the overall demand for plastic. Durability is described
as the capacity of a material to stay usable without harm or unexpected maintenance in its
environment during its lifespan.

The following are the factors that affects the durability of the bio plastic according to
Harunsyah, M., Yunus, M., and Fauzan, R. (2017):

Tensile Strength
 Tensile is the resistance of a material to breaking under tension and the tensile strength
of the composite material diminish for up to five days, next is the gradual decrease. Weight loss
or reduction in the tensile strength of biodegradable composite material in soil has greater
significance than buried in natural soils. The biodegradability of these composites is further
enhanced in the bottom part because the area is more vulnerable to microorganisms.
According to Omotoso, M., Adeyefa, O., Animashaun, E., and, Osibanjo , O. (2015), the average
tensile strength of cassava starch based bio-plastics is 0.51MPa – 5.33Mpa.The higher the value
of the Mpa, the stronger the material.

Temperature

Temperature may affect the durability of a bio plastic. higher temperature may cause
the bio-plastic to burn and deform while colder temperature may cause the plastic to moisten
and damaged. Wahyuningtiyas, N., and Suryanto, H. (2018).

Properties and Composition of Stagnant Water and Tap Water

Sewage water

Stagnant water can be everywhere and any time, it becomes a threat especially in
summer when it becomes a breeding ground for insects. The ground can be a factor of water
stagnation when it rains, the ground cannot absorb all the water that has recently fallen. Or
sewers are not enough to sip all the water from the rain. Filter Butler (n.d)

Tap Water

Tap water has chemicals in order to kill the bacteria and other microorganisms, however
it may contain unwanted contaminants and it can be contaminated by chemicals due to the
pipes. Geoff (n.d)

Properties of Taro Starch as a Material for Making Bio-Plastic

According to Reddy (2015), Taro is an expanding vegetative tropical root that comes
from South-East Asia (Colocasia esculent Linn). With its cultivation spread across Africa, it
occupies 9th place among world food crops. Taro tubers are important sources of
carbohydrates as an energy source and they are used in tropical and subtropical countries as
staple foods. It's generated largely for its underground. The starch of Taro corm has been
reported to have 70–80% (dry weight basis) starch with small Granules. Because of the
small sizes (1–4 m in diameter) of its starch granules, taro is highly digestible. Taro is also high
in the amount of amylopectin and amylose that is essential for making bioplastic.

Properties of Cassava Starch as a Material for Making Bio-Plastics

Cassava starch or also known as tapioca starch Manihot esculenta is made by the root of
cassava plant that leached and dried. Based on Oladonmoye (2014), cassava starch is produced
by the high-yielding low-cyanide improved cassava variety. According to Girao, L., Inciong, R.,
Jacinto, E., Magbuhat, B., and, Sayson, S. (2017), plastics are made up of polymers and the most
favorable in making of bio-plastics are the starch. Meaning, cassava starch is good in making
bio-plastics. Tapioca is a natural polymers that is actually used as raw material in making
biodegradable plastic. It is a material that we can use because of its polymers. Tapioca is highly
producing a chemicals that is needed to make a bioplastics. Other tapioca resin products
include reusable gloves, capes, plastics and aprons. According to Material District (2017),
cassava starch based bioplastics can break down on lands and sea over a period of months.
Ruegg (2018) mentioned in his study that cassava starch is composed of 85 percent
amylopectin and 15 percent of amylose. These chemicals reacted with ions and polymers to
produce plastic. The higher the amylose and amylopectin, the higher its effectiveness in making
bioplastics.

Components of Bioplastic

Starch

According to StarchEurope (2019) Starch is a carbohydrate that is extracted from

agricultural raw materials. It is renewable and biodegradable so it is a perfect raw material that
can be a subtitute for fossil-fuel components, it can be turned into plastics, glue, and
detergents.

Marichelvam, Jawaid and Asim (2015) mentioned in their study that pure starch is in
colour, pure. There is also no specific taste or odor in the starch powder. However, in cold
water including alcohol, pure starch can not be dissolved. It is non-toxic, biologically absorbable
and carbon dioxide semi-permeable. The two types of molecules present in starch are lineary
and helical amylose and the branched amylopectin[19]. The amylose content may vary between
20 to 25%, while the amylopectin content, based on the type of plant, varies between 75% and
80% by weight. Amylopectin is a substance significantly bigger than the amylose molecule.
When cooked, starch would become water soluble, and grains would swell and combust.

Glycerol

According to Encyclopedia Britannica (2019) Glycerol is a colorless, viscous, and sweet

tasting liquid from the alcohol family. In 1948 glycerol was obtained as by product in making
animal soaps and vegetable oils. The term glycerjn was introduced in the year 1811 by the
french chemist Michel Eugene Cheryreul. It also acts as a plasticizer to promote flexibility and to
reduce brittleness and it also binds up the starch to make a useful bioplastic.

Vinegar

According to Schon M, Schwartz, P (n.d) Vinegar, is 6% in volume solution of acetic acid

liberates acetate ions and hydrogen ions in solution, because starch polymers will react to ions
and make them be disarranged easily in the solution. This disorder, resulting from the
disruption by the water and the ionization by the acetic acid, makes the resulting cast film more
homogenous. It also help the starch to stay intact with its molecules

Water

According to Schon and Schwartz (2018), Water plays a major role in bioplastic
production First dissolving the starch acts as a solvent. Additionally, after heating it helps the
starch molecules stay disrupted
Properties Affects Decomposition

Decomposition means to break down, it is refers to the rupture or breakdown of some

complex organic matter into a simpler inorganic matter. Also in ecosystem, it’s the important
process, thus, we can say it is metabolic process that takes into a new compound or as raw
materials, it converts and processes them to a simple compound. According to the study of
BYJU'S (2020), there is so many factors that can affect the decomposition of compound in terms
of their litter quality depends on the structural and chemical properties of litter, temperature
regulates the growth and activity of microorganisms, aeration when oxygen present in the
pores of the soil helps in the growth of microorganisms, soil pH that presence of cations and
anions governs the pH of the soil, which in turn affects microbial growth, and inorganic
chemicals also a factors that can affect the decomposition. The process of decomposition is
fragmentation, leaching, catabolism, humification, and last is the mineralization.

Synthesis of the Related Literature