PEMBUATAN PLASTIK BIODEGRADABLE MENGGUNAKAN PATI DARI UMBI GADUNG

Biodegradable plastic is one of the solutions to environmental problems. Alternative use of packaging that can be described is the use of biodegradable plastic. Polysaccharides like starch Dioscorea hispida dennst can be used as raw material for biodegradable plastic. Starch is a polymer that can be used for bioplastics as easy to update, affordable, and abundant source. This study aimed to determine the effect of sorbytol on the characteristics of biodegradable plastic and get optimum conditions. Making biodegradable plastic is done in three stages including, Dioscorea hispida dennst starch manufacture, manufacture of biodegradable plastic with the addition of sorbytol, and test the physical properties of plastic biodegradable include measurement of thickness, tensile strength, and elongation. The addition of sorbytol with various concentrations of 20%, 30%, 40%, 50% and 60% from weight of starch, and starch is 5 gram. The result of this experiment is thin sheet of biodegradable plastic that have been tested mechanical properties. The addition of plasticizers sorbytol with high levels produce biodegradable plastic with low tensile strength values, whereas the higher sorbytol concentration the higher thickness and percent extension. The results showed that the concentration of 40% biodegradable plastic are the best concentration that has a thickness of 0,40 mm, 0,0040 MPa tensile strength, and 0,26 percent of the extension. Keyword :biodegradable plastic, Starch Dioscorea hispida Dennst, sorbytol, Plasticize