Fabrication and characterization of jackfruit (artocarpus heterophyllus) seed powder & sago starch blend as biodegradable bioplastic / Mohd Suhazree Mohd Azhar

Jackfruit (Artocarpus Heterophyllus) is a very common food in Asia and the seed
has a very high amylose content quite similar to sago starch. Jackfruit seed and sago
are very suitable raw materials to be used in production of biodegradable bioplastic.
The objective of this research is to prepare biodegradable bioplastic made from
natural resources and to utilize the use of potential waste materials. The plastic was
prepared by mixing jackfruit seed flour and sago flour in distilled water with
addition of 0.1 M hydrochloric acid (HCI). It was stirred and heated for 80°C and
mixed with glycerol. Then, the mixture was neutralized with 0.1 M sodium
hydroxide (NaOH), casted on acrylic plate and dried for several hours. The plastic
was tested for its mechanical strength, water absorption, soil burial test and scanned
by using Fourier Transform Infrared spectroscopy (FT-IR). The maximum
mechanical strength obtained was 2.06 MPa at 70% jackfruit seed powder to sago
starch ratio. The decomposition rate of biodegradable plastic was indicated by
observing the decrease of the FT-IR peaks intensity and broadening of the
wavenumber (cm-I) due to degradation of starch in the bioplastic. Sample with
100% jackfruit seed percentage revealed to degrade fastest compared to other
samples.