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Plastics-based food packaging is increasingly used recently especially, for fresh products such as fruits and vegetables. Unfortunately, the plastic packaging for those products made from fossil fuel-based such as PP, PE, and PVC is not biodegradable and only counters for water resistance. This research aims to isolate the LCNF from sugarcane leaves and to evaluate the effect of LCNF on plasticized agar bioplastics. Lignin-containing nanocellulose (LCNF) from sugarcane leaves which has a lignin content of about 4.12% and cellulose of about 69.65% used as an active agent for agar-based bioplastics. LCNF was produced using an ultrafine masuko grinder with the stone gap in-30,-50,-70, and-10 mm with 5 cycles for each gap. Some LCNF in about 5% up to 20% was blended in plasticized agar solution at 90 ˚C for about an hour then cast in 20 x 20 cm molding. The bioplastics were conditioned at room temperature for 24 h and then oven-dried at 50 ˚C for another 24 h. The bioplastics of agar-LCNF with a thickness of about 0.1 mm have been produced. The novel finding of this study is LCNF incorporated with residual silica dioxide of sugarcane leaves. The addition of LCNF up to 15-20% improves water uptake ratio by about 54%, water solubility by about 5%, and water vapor penetration rate by about 73.81% than plasticized agar. The agar-LCNF bioplastic remains transparent with less UV blocking ability. The mechanical properties especially elongation at break enhance about 22% more than plasticized agar. The thermal stability of agar-LCNF bioplastic improves by about 3.7% for Tonset and 5,1% for Tmax. The agar-LCNF bioplastic is remarkably active on barrier ability which has potential as fresh food packaging. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Linear Low-Density Polyethylene (LLDPE) has good mechanical properties, translucent, flexible, waterproof, and easily processed into thin sheets. Therefore, LLDPE is suitable for mulch film production. However, besides having advantages, LLDPE-based mulch film has some disadvantages when applied in the field. LLDPE mulch is easily degraded due to sunlight ultraviolet (UV) radiation and is also difficult to decompose in the soil after it's used. The addition of lignin or coconut coir powder that has high lignin content was intended to improve LLDPE mulch properties regarding UV resistance properties and biodegradability. In this preliminary study, the mechanical and thermal properties ofLLDPE mulch by adding lignin and coconut coir powder with high lignin content were studied. The mulch was in form of a thin sheet plastic composite. LLDPE and lignin or coconut coir powder were compounded with rheomixer at a temperature of 120 °C, and a rotor speed of 80 rpm for 6 minutes. The proportion of lignin or coconut coir powder was 1%, 5%, and 9% of the total weight. Thereafter, the compound produced was hot-pressed into a thin sheet of plastic. The plastic sheet's mechanical properties were characterized using Universal Testing Machine and the thermal properties were analyzed using Differential Scanning Calorimeter. The addition of 9% coconut coir powder resulted in the highest modulus of elasticity and tensile strength values, which were 0.202 GPa and 16.91 MPa, respectively. Thermal analysis of LLDPE with the addition of lignin showed melting points that were close to LLDPE or lignin. The addition oflignin slightly changed the LLDPE melting point. The crystallization temperature (Tc) of LLl (lignin 1%), LLS (lignin 5%), and LL9 (lignin 9%) were not much different; 106.22°C, 106.22°C, and 105.66°C, respectively. The addition of 5% lignin or coir powder increases the crystallinity of LLDE film compared to the addition of 1% lignin or coir powder. However, the addition of9% lignin or 9% coir powder decreases the mulch film's crystallinity, due to higher lignin or coir powder content loading into LLDPE which prevents the crystallization of LLDPE. Based on thermogravimetry analysis, LLDPE+lignin 9% film is more thermally stable than LLDPE+coir 9% film. Moreover, the temperature processing of coir powder while blended with thermoplastic should be below 209°C to avoid thermal degradation of the coir powder. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abundant boiler ash from biomass especially from sugarcane bagasse has great potential to be utilized as heavy metal adsorbent. In this study, the raw boiler ash (RBA) was modified into three condition treatments such as the alkali modified (AM), oxidized modified (OM), and modified with magnetite (MM). The detailed comparison of the physical and chemical properties of each modified boiler ash were characterized using Field emission – scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-Ray Fluorescence (XRF), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and the Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET). The percentage removal of each modified materials was investigated in batch systems with similar condition of the initial Hg(II) ions concentration (20 mg/L), pH (6), adsorbent dose (2 g/L), contact time (45 min) and room temperature. The results showed that modification RBA could affect to physical and chemical properties. Different surface morphology after treatment show in SEM image from compact structure to porous, clear flakes and small spherical particles that covering the flakes. Quartz (SiO2) become major mineral components of ash particles. The largest surface area and porosity became factor that contribute to the mercury sorption. The percentage removal of mercury adsorption for AM, OM and MM were 3.3, 2.3 and 3.6 times greater than RBA. Notably, modified fly ash could be considered as potential adsorbent materials applicable to wastewater treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Paper-based food packaging serves to maintain product quality for a longer period. The addition of nanocellulose as a coating agent on paper can improve the quality of the recycled paper. Modification of nanocellulose with Al3+ can occur due to the interaction between Al3+ ions and the electrostatic negative surface charge of nanocellulose which can degrade microbial cells. Modification of nanocellulose was carried out by soaking it in AlCl3 solution then homogenized by an ultrasonic wave which was used for defibrillation of nanocellulose and encourage crosslinking of nanocellulose and Al3+ ions. The paper coating technique uses a deep coating by immersing the paper in modified nanocellulose suspension. The variations of AlCl3 concentration used were 0.01, 0.05, 0.1, and 0.15 N as much as 25 ml on 1 g dry base nanocellulose. The concentrations of nanocellulose used were 0.5, 1, 1.5, and 2 g in 25 ml of Al3+ solution. The results of paper water absorption and WVTR test showed that modified nanocellulose can reduce the absorption of water vapor and water absorption from the paper, so it has water resistance. Nanocellulose coated can increase the hydrophobicity of the paper based on contact angle test. Antimicrobial test on coating paper also showed antimicrobial activity on E.coli test bacteria and not on S. aureus bacteria. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]