Materials Science Forum Submitted: 2015-01-11

ISSN: 1662-9752, Vol. 846, pp 673-678 Revised: 2015-10-12

doi:10.4028/www.scientific.net/MSF.846.673 Accepted: 2015-10-14
© 2016 Trans Tech Publications, Switzerland Online: 2016-03-04

Synthesis and Characterization of Biodegradable Starch-based

Bioplastics
Nurul Aina Ismaila*, Syuhada Mohd Tahirb, Norihan Yahyac,
Muhamad Firdaus Abdul Wahidd, Nur Ezzati Khairuddine, Ibtihah Hashimf,
Nurfarhana Roslig, Maryam Aqilah Abdullahh
Faculty of Applied Sciences, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Pahang, 26400 Bandar Tun Abdul Razak
Jengka, Pahang, Malaysia.
a
nurulaina@pahang.uitm.edu.my, bsyuhadamohdtahir@pahang.uitm.edu.my,
c
norihan@pahang.uitm.edu.my, ddausabdwahid@gmail.com, enurezzatikhairuddin@yahoo.com,
f
tiahashim@outlook.com, ganahraf94@live.com, haqilahkillua@gmail.com

Keywords: Bio-based polyester, FTIR, Soil burial, Tensile, TGA

Abstract: Biobased plastics or bioplastics are made from renewable resources, such as corn,
potatoes, soy, sugarcane, yam, wheat, and vegetable oil. With the price of oil rising and scarce
resources of petroleum, tremendous efforts are being put by researchers to explore a proper and
proven alternative to petroleum-based plastics. In this project, extraction of starch from chosen
tubers with high content of starch namely potato and yam have been used as raw materials for
bioplastics. The chemical, mechanical, and thermal properties of the products were analyzed using
Fourier transform infrared (FTIR), tensile strength tester and Thermogravimetric analysis (TGA).
The FTIR spectra of the product displayed the presence of O-H, C-H, C=O and C-O absorption
peaks, which indicate the formation of bioplastic has already occured. The tensile strength obtained
for potato and yam starch-based bioplastic were 0.6 MPa and 1.9 MPa, respectively. The results
gained from TGA showed that 50% weight loss was occurred at 250°C for potato and 310°C for
yam-based plastic. The highly biodegradability of plastic was proven using soil burial test, which
observed through percentage of soil biodegradation for potato and yam-based bioplastic in 1 week
duration were 43% and 26%, respectively. These bio-based plastics have exhibited good thermal
and mechanical properties with high biodegradability that makes them a suitable alternative for the
existing conventional plastics.

Introduction
Plastic is best describes as any of numerous organic synthetic or processed materials that are
mostly thermoplastic or thermosetting polymers of high molecular weight that can be made into
objects, films, or filaments (Meriam-Webster Dictionary definition). These synthetic
macromolecular substances are mostly originating from petroleum and usually are non-degradable.
The common types of petroleum-based plastics are polyethylene, PVC, polystyrene and
polyethylene terephthalate (PET). These polymers have been widely used in every field of human
activity thus set off plastics as a truly huge industry. In 2008, the total output of all petroleum-based
plastic in United States exceeded 11.34 billion kg [1]. Clearly by now, the production of plastic has
been significantly intensified to keep up with the demand of world rapidly growing population.
However, with the price of oil rising and limited resource of petroleum, tremendous effort are
being put by researchers to explore a suitable alternative to petroleum-based plastics. The
environmental menace associated with these conventional plastics is also being widely voiced all
over the world due to the high carbon footprint remnants. Due to the non-degradable properties, the
ubiquitous use of plastic has led to their comprising about 12% of the 227 tonnes/ metric tons of
municipal waste produced annually in the United States [1] and the accumulation of plastic in the
environment occurred at a rate in excess of 18.2 metric tons per year.
The search for alternatives to petroleum-based plastic has progressed not just only on the source
of plastic but also the downstream consequences which emphasizing on degradability properties.
Initially, photodegradable plastic is synthesized but this product has time-limited degradability in

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674 Main Tendencies in Applied Materials Science

which the products can only be degraded in the presence of sunlight [2]. Long lasting
biodegradability properties of plastic is desired for composters and municipal landfills.The
production of plastic is then shifted to biological sources and several bio-based plastics have been
synthesized by microorganism and plants. The major advantages of bio-based plastics are low
carbon footprint, low energy costs in manufacturing and reduction in litter with improved
compostability [3].To list a few, polyhydroxlalkanoate isone of the polymer which obtained by
microbial production [4], and polylactic acid (PLA) is an example of chemically synthesized
polymer from monomers derived from agroresources [5]. However, production of plastic using
microbial fermentation is quite expensive and the bioreactor requires careful monitoring [6].
At present, plants are considered to be a viable option for production of bioplastics mainly due to
the capability as solar driven biofactories with the potential for being renewable, sustainable and
produce many polymers, such as starch and cellulose naturally. Among those naturally produced-
polymers in plants, starch is considered as a promising candidate for developing sustainable
materials which mainly due to complete biodegradability of starch [7], low cost and renewability
[8]. Starch has been receiving growing attention since 1970s [9]. Many efforts have been exerted to
develop starch-based polymers for conserving the petrochemical resources and reducing
environmental impact [10].
However, starch-based materials have some drawbacks including long term stability caused by
water absorption, aging caused by retrogradation and poor mechanical properties [11]. To overcome
these limitations, plasticizer such as glycerine has been added to improve shelf-life and elasticity of
the product [12]. The presence of plasticizer also occupying spaces between the starch polymer
chains tempered which then decrease crystallinity of the plastic [13]. This plasticized starch is more
versatile and can be blended with various polymeric materials for numerous applications.
In this study, the ability of using yam and potato starch to synthesize bioplastic was determined
with the addition of propan-1,2,3-triol as plasticizer. The chemical, thermal, mechanical and
biodegradable properties of this bioplastic were also characterized to evaluate the potential of this
bioplastic as a suitable alternative for the existing conventional plastics.

Methodology
Materials. The potato and yam tubers were obtained from Bandar Pusat Tun Abdul Razak Jengka.
The chemicals used in this study; hydrochloric acid and propan-1,2,3-triol were obtained from
Sigma Aldrich.
Experimentation. To extract the starch, 100g of potatoes and yam tubes were weighed. Next,
100cm3 of distilled water was added to the grated sample and grinded by using mortar and pestle.
The mixture is then poured through a strainer into a beaker leaving crude starch settled on the
strainer. The crude starch was then purified by using centrifuge with 10 000 rpm for 1 minute. The
pellet obtained was added with 100cm3 of distilled water and centrifuged again to get pure starch.
To synthesize the starch-based bioplastic, 2.5g of pure starch was added into a beaker together with
25cm3 of distilled water. Next, 2cm3 of hydrochloric acid and 2cm3 of propan-1,2,3-triol were added
into the beaker. The mixture is boiled gently for 15 minutes with a watch glass being put on top of
the beaker to prevent evaporation of water. Sodium hydroxide was added to neutralize the pH of the
mixture. Finally, the mixture is poured into petri dishes and even out with glass rod. The samples
are then left in lamina air flow for 2 days to dry out. After two days, plasticized starch in sheet form
was obtained.
Characterization. FTIR analysis was run by using Perkin Elmer Spectrophometer at range 4000
to 400 for pellet. FTIR spectroscopy was used to characterize the functional group that present in
the sample to predict the type of plastic synthesized in this study. Thermal stability
(Thermogravimetric analysis) of the samples was studied using symultanic thermal analyzer SDT
Q600 V20.9 Build 20 under Nitrogen atmosphere. Samples were heated in the nitrogen atmosphere
in the temperature range of 30 – 500°C with temperature rate increase of 20°C/min. The mechanical
properties of the samples were measured by Universal Testing Machine model Instron series 5569.
Compressive strength test was carried out to determine the starch-based bioplastic strength. The
 Materials Science Forum Vol. 846 675

bioplastic samples were cut into strips of 80 mm × 20 mm. The crosshead speed of the testwas
programmed to 2.00 mm/min. Biodegradability of the starch-based bioplastic was determined by
soil burial test. Sample cut in strip shape and buried into soil for a week. Samples were weighed
before soil burial. After one week, samples were removed of soil and weighted.

Results and Discussion

The following Fig. 1 shows the starch-based bioplastics synthesized from potato and yam tubers.

(a) (b)
Fig. 1: The starch based polyester synthesized from (a) potato and (b) yam tubers.
Chemical Properties. The FTIR spectra of yam and potato bioplastic are shown in Fig. 2. The
spectra of both bioplastics produced from this study displayed the presence of these four major
absorption peaks which are O-H stretch, C-H stretch, C=O stretch and C-O stretch. The major
absorption peaks for each potato and yam bioplastic spectra are summarized in Table 1. From this
analysis, it can be concluded that the type of plastic obtained from this study is polyester
substantiated by the presence of the four functional groups [14].
44.6

42

40

38
924.77
854.93
36

34

32

30 1644.99 1414.80 573.55

28 (b) Potato 1153.64

26

24

%T 22
2937.84

20
856.69
18
1041.12 925.83
16

575.33
14

12
(a) Yam 1646.77

1414.96
10 2931.60
3390.84
8
1153.45
6

3373.04
2 1026.98
1.0
4000.0 3600 3200 2800 2400 2000 1800 1600 1400 1200 1000 800 600 450.0
cm-1

Fig. 2: FTIR spectra of (a) potato and (b) yam starch-based bioplastics
Table 1: The main FTIR absorption peaks for potato and yam starch-based bioplastic
Wave number [cm-1]
Functional Group
Potato Yam
O–H 3390.84 3373.04
C–H 2937.84 2931.60
C=O 1644.99 1646.77
C–O 1041.12 1026.98
676 Main Tendencies in Applied Materials Science

Thermal Properties. The following Fig. 3 shows the decomposition profile of yam and potato
bioplastic obtained from thermogravimetric analysis (TGA). From the graph, the T50% (temperature
at which 50% of weight loss occured) are at 250 oC and 310 oC, respectively for yam and potato
bioplastics. Decomposition temperature decreases wih the increase of amylose content in the starch
[15]. The correlation between decomposition temperature and amylase content signifies the amylose
content in yam is greater than in potato. Hetti et al., 2009 also mentioned in their study that amylase
content was found higher than from potatoes ranging from 25.9% and 23.5% respectively [16]. This
also indicates that yam has greater heat stability compared to potato [13].

(a) Yam

(b) Potato

Fig. 3: TGA curves for yam and potato bioplastic

Mechanical Properties. Table 2 below shows the mechanical properties of yam and potato
starch-based bioplastics. From the results obtained, yam starch-bioplastic possesses greater
toughness compared to potato starch-bioplastic but low in flexibility. This is consistent with the
finding from Anuchita, 2013 who stated that the resistant starch content differ significantly from
yam compare to potato which is much lower [17].
Table 2: Mechanical properties of yam and potato bioplastics
Extension at break Tensile strength
(mm) (MPa)
Potato 1.66325 0.66211
Yam 1.05644 1.92224
Biodegradable properties. The following Table 3 displays the weight loss experienced by yam
and potato bioplastics in 5 days soil burial test. The weight loss of plastic sheets during burial in soil
indicates the amount of degradation in natural environment by action of microorganisms. The starch
content consumed by soil microorganisms will fracture the polymer chain thus cause the
biodegradation [12]. The amount of biodegradation occurred can be calculated by the following Eq.
1:
Soil biodegradation (%) = [(W-W0) / W0] x 100 (1)
whereby W0 and W, is the initial and finalweight of samples [12]. According to the percentage of
weight loss, potato starch-based bioplastics exhibited higher degree of biodegradation which is
43%, compared to potato at 26%. This is due to the starch content in the potato and yam which are
different from each other. The amount of starch in the yam is more complex and higher compare to
amount of starch in potatoes thus required much longer time to be degraded [17,18]
 Materials Science Forum Vol. 846 677

Table 3: The initial and final mass of yam and potato bioplastics and conventional plastic for
fivedays soil burial test
Mass of yam (g) Mass of potato (g) Mass of plastic (g)
Weight Weight Weight
Initial Final Loss Initial Final Loss Initial Final Loss
(%) (%) (%)
1 0.616 0.202 67.2 0.639 0.434 3.9 0.643 0.643 0.000
2 0.654 0.625 4.4 0.650 0.280 56.9 0.638 0.638 0.000
3 0.508 0.483 4.9 0.659 0.210 68.1 0.649 0.649 0.000
Average 0.593 0.437 25.5 0.649 0.308 43.0 0.643 0.643 0.000

Conclusion
From this study, it can be concluded that starch-based bioplastic has been successfully
synthesized from potato and yam tubers. These products have exceptionally high biodegradable
properties with decent thermal and mechanical properties and make them a suitable alternative for
the existing conventional plastics. Furthermore, starch is a renewable resource, cheap and can be
easily modified. This means someday it is unnecessary to rely on petroleum to prepare polymers,
people may ‘plant’ polymers of suitable performances from the earth, and the environmental
problems will be no longer as severe as today.

Acknowledgements
The authors gratefully acknowledge the support given from Universiti Teknologi MARA (UiTM
Pahang), Malaysia.

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Synthesis and Characterization of Biodegradable Starch-Based Bioplastics

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