Effect of Glycerol on Physical Properties of Biofilms Gembili Starch (Dioscorea Esculenta) - Chitosan

Abstract

In this present era, the demand of plastics as food packaging materials is increase rapidly. However, unfortunately the most of these products are non-environmentally friendly and non-biodegradable. Biofilm starch-chitosan is one of polymer that has been extensively studied for use as a biodegradable plastic. This study was conducted to determine the physical properties of biofilm that made from starch of Gembili (Dioscorea esculenta) and chitosan with glycerol plasticizer, with dope method. The results showed that biofilms obtained the biodegradability of 68%, water uptake ranging between 0.15 to 0.25, tensile strength ranging between 26.87 to 35.45 MPa and elongation ranging from 18.15 to 31.23%.