Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) Partially Hydrolyzed Addition in Synthesis of Natural Hydrogel Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) Based from Water Hyacinth

There are many benefits from Indonesia’s biodiversity. One of them is cellulose of Water hyacinth. Water hyacinth contains 60 % cellulose. Cellulose of water hyacinth can be used as material for polymer product such as hydrogel. Hydrogel is a hydrophilic superabsorbent polymer that can absorb water until 200 times from its weight without dissolved in water. In synthesis of hydrogel, the cellulose should be modified to Carboxymethyl Cellulose (CMC) by alkalization and carboxymethylation process in reaction media ethanol and isopropanol (2:8). The aim of the study is to obtain the hydrogel with high swelling ratio characteristic by adding Polyvinyl Alcohol (PVA) Partially Hydrolyzed with variation of PVA/CMC composition (20:80, 80:20, 50:50, 25:75 and 75:25). The optimum PVA/CMC composition are 20:80 and 25:75 which give results 29% and 25% in their swelling ratio. This low swelling ratio is caused by morphology structure of hydrogel that has a compact structure and small pores. This structures lead to difficulity in water diffusion. In compare with hydrogel from PVA Fully Hydrolyzed addition, hydrogel with PVA Partially Hydrolyzed addition contain vinyl acetate that cause hydrogel less hydrophilic and has a low value on liofil-hidrophilic balance