Wastewater from the Arenga Starch Industry as a Potential Medium for Bacterial Cellulose and Cellulose Acetate Production

Abstract

Wastewater from the Arenga starch industry (WWAS) contains a high chemical oxygen demand (COD) concentration, so it has to be treated before being discharged into water bodies. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to utilize WWAS as a medium for bacterial cellulose (BC) and cellulose acetate (CA) production. This study consisted of the production of BC through fermentation and the production of CA through acetylation. Fermentation was conducted under static batch conditions with various initial pHs and sucrose additions, while acetylation was conducted with various BC–acetic anhydride ratios. The results of this study showed that the maximum BC production of 505.6 g/L of the culture medium was obtained under the optimal conditions of a sucrose addition of 200 g/L, an initial medium pH of 4.5, and a cultivation time of 14 d. Furthermore, a BC–acetic anhydride ratio of 1:3 resulted in CA being suitable as a biofilm raw material with a yield of 81.49%, an acetyl content of 39.82%, a degree of substitution of 2.456, and a degree of crystallinity of 36.7%. FT−IR, 1H and 13C NMR, XRD, and SEM analyses confirmed the successful process of acetylation of BC to CA.

Synthesis of cellulose acetate (CA) from algae Gracilaria sp. composited with nickel oxide (NiO) as a supercapacitor base material

“…This indicated that most of the hydroxyl groups (O-H) originating from cellulose were replaced by acetate groups [24]. The lack of absorption in the 1840 cm -1 region in Figure 1(b) indicated that the product was free from acetic acid [25]. The success of the acetylation reaction was also proven in the formation of a carbonyl group (C=O) at an intensity of 1753 cm -1 and an acetyl group (C-O) at a power of 1043 cm -1 with a fairly high level of peak state.…”