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As a large producer of pineapples, Indonesia also produces much pineapple peel waste. An effort to reduce this waste is to utilize it as a culture medium to produce bacterial cellulose (BC) pellicle. BC has properties of high mechanical strength, crystallinity, hydrophilicity, and high purity. This study produces a new biocomposite using BC pellicle with adding polyethylene glycol (PEG). This study aims to observe the effect of adding PEG4000 on BC/PEG biocomposite membrane structure. BC pellicle was produced using pineapple peel extract as medium fermentation and Acetobacter xylinum as a fermentation agent. After the fermentation process, produced pellicle was immersed in PEG 4000 at different concentrations (1, 2.5, and 5%wt). After that, the BC was dried using the freeze-drying method. The biocomposite BC/PEG4000 membrane was observed by X-ray Diffraction (XRD). The XRD result showed the BC membrane has diffractogram peaks found at 28 of 14, 16, and 22°. The addition of PEG4000 causes diffractogram new peaks at 28 of 19°. The higher addition of PEG4000 produces higher peak intensity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Bacterial cellulose has many advantages when applied in various fields, such as medic. This research reported the fibrillation process effect on bacterial cellulose using a blender and HPH on bacterial cellulose produced from pineapple skin waste. The produced pellicle after the fermentation process was cleaned and received treatment from a blender and a High-Pressure Homogenization (HPH) machine. After that, the bacterial cellulose was dried using a freeze-drying method. Use scanning electron microscopy (SEM), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) to observe bacterial cellulose. The SEM results showed that the HPH treatment created a more homogenous porosity in the bacterial cellulose. The XRD result presented that similar crystal positions were found at 14°, 16°, and 22°. The HPH treatment produced a higher crystallinity value. The FTIR test showed that the fibrillation process did not change the bonds of bacterial cellulose. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cellulose produced from bacteria is a biopolymer that having high strength, purity and permeability so that it can be applied in various fields. The study aims to observe the morphology and structure of BC after being treated by a chemical reagent. The study was conducted using a BC pellicle that was produced from an extract of pineapple peel waste after being fermented for 10 days by Acetobacter xylinum. BC pellicle was treated by a chemical reagent solution (BmimCl, H2O2, and NaOH) by a concentration of 5%. BC pellicle was immersed in chemical reagent at 80 °C for 2 hours then dried in an oven for 6 hours at 70°C. The morphology observation was conducted under the Scanning Electron Microscope, and the structure was analysed using XRD apparatus. The results indicate that diffractogram of BC film after chemical pretreatment, the crystal size of BC film reduce from 10.01 nm (without treatment) to 3.67 nm, 3.62 nm, and 3.68 nm for pretreatment fo NaOH, H2O2, and BmimCl, respectively. The highest crystallinity of BC film was obtained by pretreatment using H2O2 with a crystallinity of 76.83%. The morphology of BC film indicated that pretreatment using NaOH, H2O2, and BmimCl cause peel of BC nanofiber so that the surface of BC film looks rougher and more porous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]