Effect of carboxymethyl cellulose addition on the characteristic of chitosan-based bioplastic

Bioplastic is an alternative solution in solving the problem of the plastic waste accumulation. Chitosan is a marine product waste from the crustacean group that can be used as a raw material for bioplastic because of its good film-forming ability. However, the bioplastic from chitosan has the property of being easily broken, so another material is added, namely carboxymethyl cellulose (CMC), that increase the bond's compactness. This study aims to determine the effect of the addition of CMC on the characteristics of bioplastic made from 2 chitosan and 0.5 glycerol with a volume ratio of 10:1 chitosan:CMC. The experimental design used was a completely randomized design (CRD) with the addition of CMC (0, 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1). The characteristics of the bioplastic tested in this study included film thickness, density, water content, solubility, tensile strength, elongation, antibacterial activity, and functional group analysis. The addition of 0.5 CMC resulted the bioplastic with a film thickness of 0.072 mm, the density of 0.836 g/cm3, the water content of 16.99, the solubility of 40.5, the tensile strength of 12.83 MPa, the elongation of 41.76, inhibition zone of the antibacterial activity of 2.83 mm and a new group is formed in film that was made.