Biodegradable and bio-based substitutes for conventional plastics are on the rise in these past decades. One of the applications of bioplastic is for biomedical implants or bioimplant. Starch was plasticized using glycerol at varying amounts (40% and 60% of dry starch mass) to produce thermoplastic starch (TPS). A reinforcement filler of microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) was used to improve the mechanical properties. The MCC content in this study was also varied (0%, 2%, 4%, and 8% w/w). This paper studies the mechanical properties of starch-MCC composites for their potential as bioimplant. The optimum glycerol and MCC contents from the results are 40% glycerol and 8% MCC with 2.97 MPa tensile strength and 7.20% strain at break. Thus, the sample has the potential application in bioimplant material for trabecular bone replacement, which has an average tensile strength of 2 MPa and strains at a break of 2.5%.
Biobarrier combines the adsorption and biodegradation processes which are carried out simultaneously. This method can increase the rate of contaminant reduction, reduce contaminant toxicity and extend the life of activated carbon. This study aims to evaluate the characteristics of benzene and toluene adsorption on granular activated carbon (GAC). The ratio of adsorption in the expanded bed to the fixed bed determines the operating conditions in the benzene biodegradation process experiment. The results showed that the GAC was distributed in the micropore and mesopore regions with a pore diameter of 15 Å to 23 Å. The molecular diameters for benzene and toluene are 5.285 Å and 5.72 Å, respectively, which fit the pores. The adsorption capacity of activated carbon can be represented well using the Freundlich equation. Freundlich’s constants for benzene and toluene are Kf = 17.87 (1/n = 0.46) and Kf = 25.88 (1/n = 0.45).
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