Bioplastic from Seaweeds (Eucheuma Cottonii) as an Alternative Plastic

Journal homepage: http://ejournal.upi.edu/index.php/AJSE/ ASEAN Journal of Science and Engineering 2 (2) (2022) 129-132 © 2021 Universitas Pendidikan Indonesia Consebit et al., Seaweeds (Eucheuma Cottonii) Turned into Bioplastic to Substitute...| 130 DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10. 17509/xxxxt.vxix pISSN 2776-6098 eISSN 2776-5938


INTRODUCTION
One of the serious problems the world is facing today is plastic pollution. This study shows the capability of bioplastic to reduce the usage of synthetic plastics. Guso is a seaweed alga that belongs to the red algae family (Rhodophyta), where agar is obtained and used for bioplastic processing.
The main objective of the research was to reach the biodegradable plastics industry as alternatives to non-biodegradable plastics (Naesa et al., 2019). Algae serve as a good candidate for bioplastic processing. Seaweed is getting considered as an alternative resource to produce biofuels, biochemicals, and food (Sudhakar et al., 2018). Due to the seaweeds' high biomass, it is used as one of the alternatives for the development of bioplastics (Rajendran et al., 2012). Seaweed is commonly used as bioplastic in the packaging industry (Gade et al., 2013).
The purpose of conducting this research is to determine the seaweed's capability as bioplastics as alternatives to synthetic plastic and to explore different ways to enhance bioplastic properties made from seaweed and find a better and more reliable approach for making seaweed-based bioplastic. This study aims to determine the capability of seaweed (Eucheuma cottonii) as bioplastic material on varying concentrations of glycerine (10, 20, and 30 mL) in terms of (1) tensile strength, and (2) biodegradability. In making the bioplastic, the researchers dried and extracted several seaweeds, used glycerine as the plasticizer, water as a solvent, corn-starch as the thickener, and vinegar to help the starch dissolve easily.

METHOD
This research used a descriptive-experimental design with a quantitative approach to minimize petroleum-based plastic production by manufacturing biodegradable plastic. Table  1 shows the formulations used in this study. To produce the product, this study used dried seaweed, cornstarch, water, vinegar, and glycerine. All chemicals were purchased from local markets and used without purification.
In the production of bioplastic, the seaweeds were dried and extracted. Then, it was put on a hot pan, together with the other components. After mixing all the ingredients until it thickens, the mixture was poured on a flat and dry surface lined with a foil as soon as possible before the product starts to solidify. It took three to four days for the bioplastics to harden, depending on how thick the product is.  an average of 17.97 N while treatment F3 (30 mL of glycerine) was the least capable with an average of 6.2 N. The biodegradability of the bioplastics was determined by burying them in the ground using the Soil Burial Method (see Table 3). Table 3 shows that the treatment F1 (10 mL of glycerine) has the highest percentage among the other formulas with an average weight loss of 56.25%. It was then followed by treatment F3 (30 mL of glycerine) with an average weight loss of 55%. Lastly, treatment F2 (20 mL of glycerine) got the least percentage with an average weight loss of 49.5%. Table 4 shows that the computed P-value, which is 1.63E-05 or 0.0000163, is less than the alpha level, 0.05. Given the results, the researchers concluded that the alternative hypothesis can be accepted.

RESULT AND DISCUSSION
Based on Table 5, the results show that the computed F, with the value of 0.04, is less than the F critical value that is 4.25. Also, the resulting P-value, which is 0.95, is greater than the alpha level (0.05). The researchers accepted the null hypothesis and rejected the alternative hypothesis.  17.65 N 17.65 N 53.93 N 17.97667 N F2 (20mL glycerine) 9.8 N 10.78 N 7.84 N 28.42 N 9.473333 N F3 (30mL glycerine) 5.88 N 5.88 N 6.86 N 18.62 N 6.206667 N

CONCLUSION
Based on the observations, the result in testing the tensile strength revealed that the lower the level of the concentration of the glycerine, the harder and firmer the bioplastic becomes. The biodegradability test showed that the amount added and glycerine components caused