Tropical Agricultural Waste Management: Exploring the Utilization of Cassava Husk for Extracting Cellulose and Starch as Sustainable Biomass Resources

Cassava is one of the most popular food crops in the world, as proven by its high production. Indonesia produced 17.75 million tons of cassava in 2021. Meanwhile, about 15 - 20 of the production will generate cassava husk waste. However, cassava husk has valuable components, including cellulose and starch, that can be used in various industry applications. Cellulose is generally used as a filler to manufacture an item or compound, while starch can be applied as an adhesive. This study aimed to investigate cellulose and starch extracts from cassava husk waste for sustainable biomass resources. Yield of cellulose from cassava husk was ranged from 24 to 26. The cellulose content of delignified cassava husk was obtained at 44.97, which was increased up to 14.24 compared to the non-delignified (30.73). Meanwhile, yield of starch from cassava husk extraction was obtained at 3 – 4. Physical appearance has shown that the extracted starch can experience the gelatinization process after mixing with warm water, which is one of the proven characteristics. This gelatinization process then made the starch powder become a sticky gel-like glue for adhesives. Based on the FTIR test, some functional groups showed the presence of cellulose and starch bonds from the cassava husk extracts. In cellulose extract, the C=C aromatic group at the peak of 1623 cm-1 was obtained, which showed that the lignin remained. In starch extract, the O-H bond on 3301 cm-1 was found, showing one of the main identified functional groups of starch. These findings showed that cassava husk can be utilized as sustainable biomass resources for cellulose and starch provision, with future continuous improvement in application. © 2025 Institute of Physics Publishing. All rights reserved.