EXTRACTION OF STARCH FROM

BANANA (Musa Sapientum) PEEL TO

PRODUCE BIOPLASTIC

SUBMITTED BY:

BSChE 3-1 Group 4

Manzano, Mikaela Gail

Santos, Princess Gabrielle C.

Valdez, Loisroi R.

Yepes, Anna Lyn G.

SUBMITTED TO:

Engr. Milagros Cabangon

Instructor

December 2016
 CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION
I. BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

From cars to food wrap, you can make anything and everything from plastics—
unquestionably the world's most versatile materials. But there's a snag. Plastics
are synthetic (artificially created) chemicals that don't belong in our world and
don't mix well with nature. Public pressure to clean up has produced plastics
that seem to be more environmentally friendly.

Bioplastics are plastics derived from renewable biomass sources, such as

vegetable fats and oils, corn starch, or microbiota. Bioplastic can be made from
agricultural by-products and from used plastic bottles and other containers
using microorganisms. Bioplastics can be composed of starches, cellulose,
biopolymers, and a variety of other materials.

The demand to produce environment friendly material is increasing. The rising

concern towards environmental problems brought by petroleum-based products
inspired the development of the eco-friendly materials. Bioplastics are derived
from agricultural resources and biomass feedstock that are renewable and
therefore comply with materials that are eco-efficient and sustainable. Among
the biopolymer matrices being utilized to produce bioplastics, starch is
considered the most widely used material.

Starch-based plastics have been projected to comprise the largest production

capacity amounting to 1.3 Mt in 2020 while the remaining production is based
on polylactic acid (PLA), polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA), bio-based polyethylene,
and others. The large contribution of starch-based plastics in the market can be
accounted for its several cited advantages such as high abundance, low cost,
and renewability. However, starch alone is not a true thermoplastic. It must be
processed in the presence of heat and mechanical treatment together with a
plasticizer. This process produces thermoplastic starch (TPS). It must be
combined with other materials often a filler to modify its properties. Generally,
reinforcement with filler enhances the mechanical properties of starch and
reduces the hydrophilic character.

In bioplastic production, 50% are starch based and the remaining are cellulose
and protein based. Starch based bioplastic can use corn kernels, sugar cane,
newspaper, plant scraps and banana peels as sources of starch.
The Philippines is the second largest exporter of bananas after Ecuador, with
some 2.6 m tonnes exported in 2012. That year, the exports from the Philippines
(essentially Cavendish cultivars) made up 98% of the Asian banana trade. Two
thirds of the exported volumes were shipped to Japan, China and South Korea.

In 2015, the country produced nearly 9.1m tonnes of bananas on 443,270 ha,
with Cavendish cultivars accounting for about 50% of national banana
production, Saba (29%) and Lakatan (11%). Latundan (a Silk cultivar) and other
cultivars accounted for about 11%. At the beginning of the century, as many as
90 cultivars were estimated to be grown for local consumption.

The common banana, scientifically known as Musa sapientum, is a tropical fruit

grown in the western hemisphere. Primarily viewed as a food source, the banana
has fleshy inside portion surrounded by an outer, typically yellow, peel. The
fleshy inside portion, or pulp, is edible when raw, and the peel is usually
discarded. When ripe, bananas have a deep yellow rind spotted with brown, and
a creamy pulp which is easily digested.

Among those, banana peels are waste and is the best option in choosing of raw
material. Also, banana production increased by 2.8% in 2014 to 8.88 million
metric tons (MT), per Bureau of Agricultural Statistics’ (BAS) which make it an
abundant source in the country. These are found to have minimum 15% starch
when immature and 30-40% when ripe.

II. STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM

In 2014, global plastic production reached 311 million metric tons, with 59
million metric tons in Europe alone. (Global Statistics, 2014) The production
process used to make plastics consumes about 10% of oil and gasoline both
produced and imported by the U.S. Globally, the production of plastic accounts
for 270 million tons of oil and gasoline in order to meet the demand for plastic
products. (Algix.com) When a plastic’s usefulness is over, it is readily dumped
into landfills and ocean environments. This gives a high impact on environmental
and economic problem. Bioplastics which are biodegradable and can be made
from scratch have a potential solution to the problem, environmentally and
economically. Also, banana peels which is the main raw material, are considered
agricultural waste that can be turned into some useful product such as
bioplastic.

During recent decades, there has been a continuous increase in the use of
plastics and it has become the major new material replacing some traditional
ones such as paper, steel and aluminum in many applications. The main
advantages of plastics are their low cost and lightweight. In addition, they are
easy to formulate and require low energy for their transportation and production.
The ever-growing production and use of plastics have led to a waste disposal
problem because, generally, they are inherently inert to the microorganisms or
the chemicals in an environment (Prinos, et al. 1998). Thus, they cannot degrade
when exposed to the environment. Conventional garbage disposal methods such
as incineration, landfill and recycling are not so attractive due to their respective
limitations. Incineration needs high temperatures of more than 800o C, which
makes it rarely used nowadays. Landfill has some problems of odor and the
scattering of lightweight waste materials by the wind. Recycling has not yet
gained widespread acceptance because of its difficulty in classifying and
separating the types of used plastics. For these reasons, there has been an
increased interest in the production and use of fully biodegradable polymers
replacing nonbiodegradable plastics

Plastics made from petroleum-based have many drawbacks. It needs a large

amount of energy in the production process, besides it took years to degrade and
at the same time caused serious hazards to the environment. To shift to
sustainable pathways, the development of biodegradable products has increased
years ago, and it continues to be the area that attracts scientists to involve with
new green materials and improvement ideas. Renewable natural polymer
resources such as starches were one of the most attractive materials because of
its’ inherent biodegradability, ready availability and low cost (Azahari et al.,
2011; Patel et al., 2011; Tang et al., 2007). Biodegradation of bioplastic can be
characterized with the loss of weight, change in tensile strength, change in
dimensions, change in chemical and physical properties, carbon dioxide
production, bacterial activity in soil and change in molecular weight distribution
(Singh & Sharma, 2008). Nowadays, starch is widely used in the fields of food
technology, engineering, pharmaceutical, packaging and agriculture

III. OBJECTIVES

GENERAL: The main objective of the experiment is to extract the starch from
the banana peels to produce a bioplastic sheet that conforms with the
standard properties.

PROPERTY STANDARD
Water absorption 22.70%
Tensile Strength 9.26 MPa
Melting Point 120 deg Celsius
Source: Green Polymer Composites Technology Properties and Applications
 SPECIFIC:

 To determine the amount of starch that can produce a bioplastic that

can conform with the standard property.
 To identify the suitable parameters that will produce the highest
amount of starch from banana peels through varying the different
parameters such as type of reagents, concentration of reagents, mass
ratio of reagents, temperature and time.
 To determine the amount of water to be used in washing banana peel
 To determine the amount of water needed to extract the most amount
of starch from banana peel
 To determine the minimum amount of time needed to settle the
maximum amount of starch from the banana starch suspension
 To determine the optimum time for drying the banana starch
 To calculate for the percent yield of each process involved.

IV. SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

With this research, the conventional petroleum-based commercial plastics will

soon be replaced by these bioplastics made from banana starch. An advantage
of this is that, they will not fill up the landfills because they are biodegradable
and just for months, disposed bioplastics are completely gone unlike petroleum-
based plastics which takes about many centuries. This research will also be
significant to the whole scientific community since it would provide added
information about how to make a good, environment-friendly, inexpensive and
toxic-free bioplastic from banana wastes. This research can also serve as a
springboard for future researches who want to develop safe and cost effective
bioplastics. This study entitled “Extraction of Starch from Banana Peels to
Produce Bioplastic” is expected to be significant to the following fields:

To the banana chips, banana ketchup factory owners

The study utilizes banana peels as its major raw material for the production of
bioplastic. This will provide the factory owners a potential market for bioplastic
rather than ending up the banana peelings as waste.

To the plastic industry

This study promotes an environment-friendly plastic as it will provide a product

that will degrade faster than the conventional plastic. Also, it promotes the
establishment of local production that will potentially be largely available in the
market.

To the business field

Both the materials and procedure of this study could be utilized and developed
by other institutions and could be a reason for a local production of bioplastic
from the raw material. Moreover, this study would help create jobs for local
citizens.

To the Students

The concepts used and the manufacturing process, as well as the literature
gathered in this experiment could be used as reference for further studies related
to the development of banana starch based bioplastic. Students could also use
the process described in the experiment to observe the conversion of banana peel
to a bioplastic in a simplified laboratory set-up.

To the chemical engineering profession

This study may serve as an additional reference for related and similar studies
of fellow researchers. Chemical engineers could help in conducting further
research and study of the process involved in the production of bioplastic. With
the help of this field, scientific and economic condition in the country could be
improved.

V. SCOPE AND LIMITATIONS

This study focuses on the production of bioplastic through extraction of starch

from banana fruit peelings. The main idea of the study was to determine its
efficacy and to identify the parameters which can yield optimum values. This
study will only focus on the production of bioplastic using starch from Banana
peels. This includes the collecting of banana peels, extraction, production of the
bioplastic, testing the properties, gathering and analysis of data and finally,
arriving at the conclusions. It will take a week to finish the production of
bioplastics since there are parts where drying is needed.

The experimentation was done only up to laboratory scale. The materials

used in this study are locally available. Banana Peels, the major raw material
used in the study, can be collected in Dolly’s Banana Chips factory in Cavite.
These banana peels are the by-product of the production of banana chips.
 In the determination of suitable parameters, a number of trials were based
on the existing experimental procedures of various related studies. The
experimental variations involved in this study are the following:

 Temperature
 Time
 Type of solvent
 Ratio of a material to reagent
 Concentration of reagents
 Type of catalyst
 Molar ratio

CHAPTER II
A. Review of Related Literature
a. Raw Material

BANANA

Musa sapientum which is commonly called banana is a herbaceous plant of the

family Musaceae. It is known to have originated from the tropical region of
Southern Asia. According to Leslie, it is now cultivated throughout the tropics.
Akinyosoye reported that the plant is cultivated primarily for its fruits and to a
lesser extent for the production of fibre. It is also believed to be an ornamental
plant. The Musa sapientum grows up to a height of about 2-8m with leaves of
about 3.5m in length. The stem which is also called pseudostem produces a
single bunch of banana before dying and replaced by new pseudostem. The
fruit grows in hanging cluster, with twenty fruits to a tier and 3 – 20 tiers to a
bunch. The fruit is protected by its peel which is discarded as waste after the
inner fleshy portion is eaten.

Banana production increased by 2.8% in 2014 to 8.88 million metric tons (MT),
according to the Bureau of Agricultural Statistics’ (BAS) Major Crops Bulletin,
but this year’s output could suffer a setback as the prevailing mild El Niño has
started to affect harvest.

The average banana fruit has 32-35% skin. Banana peels generally contain 6 to
9 percent protein, 20 to 30 percent fiber and other components such as starch,
sugars, lignin, tannins and minerals in varying amounts. The exact quantity of
these components depends on the banana cultivar and its maturity. Green
banana peels contain much less starch (about 15%) while ripe banana peels
contain up to 30% free sugars.
The relationship between peel color and starch index, according to our chart,
shows a reasonable positive linear correlation

The relationship between pH changes and starch index is not linear, and best
fits an exponential curve (Fig. 4). During normal banana ripening, the starch-
iodine staining technique for assessing pulp ripe ness correlates well with color
and soluble solids. Use of the technique to evaluate pulp maturity should be of
value to both researchers and workers in the banana industry in evaluations
when internal ripeness is more important than appearance, when color is not a
usable index, or when temperature and humidity problems arise and external
and internal ripening are not well-correlated
GLYCEROL (PROPANE-1,2,3-TRIOL) AS PLASTICIZER

A plasticizer is a substance which when added to a material, usually a plastic,

makes it flexible, resilient and easier to handle. Early examples of plasticizers
include water to soften clay and oils to plasticize pitch for waterproofing ancient
boats. There are more than 300 differentypes of plasticizers of which about 50-
100 are in commercial use. The most commonly used are phthalates and
adipates.

Usually, the second major component of a starch based film is the plasticizer,
which is used to overcome film brittleness caused by high intermolecular forces.
Plasticizing agents commonly used for thermoplastic starch production include
water and glycerol (Alves et al., 2007, Famá et al., 2006, Famá et al., 2007,
Jangehud and Chinnan, 1999, Mali et al., 2006 and Parra et al., 2004),
polyethylene glycol (Parra et al., 2004) and other polyols, such as sorbitol,
mannitol and sugars (Kechichian et al., 2010, Talja et al., 2008 and Veiga-Santos
et al., 2008).

Glycerol, also called glycerin, makes a very useful plasticizer. Glycerol is

produced by the fermentation of sugar, or from vegetable and animal oils and
fats, as a by-product in the manufacture of soaps and fatty acids. It is liquid at
room temperature.

Glycerol is an effective plasticizer and inexpensive, and it tends to make the

resulting plastic flexible even at the very low temperatures of a freezer, as might
be required for a freezer wrap. On the other hand, too much of it makes the
plastic curl up in a microwave oven and turn into gum. Even more important,
glycerol tends to lose its effectiveness as a plasticizing agent over time, leading
to a slow increase in brittleness (Green Plastics, 2011).

Some authors consider that the glycerol, a polyalcohol found naturally in a

combined form as glycerides in animal and vegetable fats and oils, is the best
plasticizer for water soluble polymers (Bertuzzi et al., 2007, Jangehud and
Chinnan, 1999 and Müller et al., 2008). The hydroxyl groups present in glycerol
are responsible for inter and intramolecular interactions (hydrogen bonds) in
polymeric chains, providing films with a more flexible structure and adjusting
them to the packaging production process (Souza et al., 2010).

To overcome high permeability caused by the plasticizer, other additives are

used. In this area, the production of bionanocomposites has proven to be a
promising option, since polymer composites are increasingly gaining importance
as substitute materials due to their superior tensile properties, making them
especially suited for transportation and packaging applications (Souza et al.,
2012)

EFFECT OF VINEGAR ON STARCH

Starch dissolves better if a small amount of ions (electrically charged particles)

are present in the mixture; the polymer molecules become disordered more
easily, and the resulting cast films are somewhat improved. These added ions
interact with both the starch and the small amounts of other polymers
(lipoproteins) that are present in commercial starch. One way to add ions into
the mixture is to use ammonium acetate. Ammonium acetate works very well in
this respect because it forms ammonium ions and acetate ions in solution.
However, ammonium acetate is not readily available. Vinegar is a practical
alternative that one can use when making bioplastic. Vinegar contains acetic
acid which forms hydrogen ions and acetate ions, and (importantly) it is readily
available. This is why adding a little bit of vinegar is recommended specifically
when making home-made bioplastic films from starch (Green Plastics, 2011)

b. Process

According to The Packaging Bulletin Magazine’s January issue, it is a proven fact

that starch and cellulose are important raw materials used in the bioplastic
industry (Packaging Bulletin, 2009). Since they are rich with starch and this
starch is very easy to extract, potatoes are the most commonly used raw
materials. In RSC’s “Making plastic from potato starch” experiment, a simple
way of making plastic from potato starch is introduced and the chemical basis
of the process is explored in depth. The propane-1,2,3-triol used in the
experiment functions as a plasticizer, an additive used to develop or improve the
plasticity of a material. It disconnects the polymer chains from one another;
restraining them from becoming rows of chains and acquiring a crystalline
structure. The formation of the crystalline structure is undesired because it is a
brittle and fragile structure which makes the plastic brittle and fragile as well.
Instead of the crystalline structure, the formation of film (not becoming rows of
chains of polymers) is desired.

Starch consists of two different types of polymer chains, called amylose and
amylopectin, made up of adjoined glucose molecules. The hydrochloric acid is
used in the hydrolysis of amylopectin, which is needed in order to aid the process
of film formation due to the H-bonding amongst the chains of glucose in starch,
since amylopectin restricts the film formation. The sodium hydroxide used in the
experiment is simply used in order to neutralize the pH of the medium.

The 9th and 10th pilot experiment conducted had been successful in producing
plastic, but had started to decay after only 3 days. As a result of the research
done to address this issue, I found out that in order to improve shelf life of post-
harvest wild mango fruits, sodium metabisulphite can be used (Ibadan, 1991).
This is why the sodium metabisulphite solution was used in this experiment.

STARCH-BASED PLASTICS

Starch is considered to be a biodegradable polymer and can be used for the

production of starch-based resin (Takagi, Ichihara, 2004) bioplastics. Starch
when harvested is turned into a white, granular product. According to the
Australian Academy of Science, “starch can be processed directly into a
bioplastic, but because it is soluble in water, articles made from starch will swell
and deform when exposed to moisture, limiting its use” (Packaging Greener,
2004). The starch must be transformed into an altered polymer in order to solve
the issue of starch deformation. Biodegradable starches can be processed “using
conventional plastic technologies such as injection molding, blow molding, film
blowing, foaming, thermoforming and extrusion” (Mohanty, 2004). These starch-
based plastics resemble many conventional plastics and are as, “biodegradable
as pure cellulose” (Berkesch, 2005).

Starch Components Starch granules are mainly composed of two

macromolecular polymers of α- D-glucose, amylose and amylopectin (Banks,
Greenwood, 1975). High amylose starch is defined as a starch that is composed
of at least about 40% amylose (Zallie et al. 1994) and has the ability to form a
strong gel and film. Madzlan, et. al. (2012) confirms that starch high in amylose
content is responsible for the production of water-soluble or biodegradable
plastics

Uses of Starch in the Plastic Industry Vilpoux and Averous (2003) enumerates
the typical uses of starch-based plastics.

 Purchase bags – These were introduced in the market in 1999 and started being
used in many supermarkets in Scandinavia and in the Mediterranean Coast.
They were introduced in places where the collecting of organic wastes already
existed and where they were accepted as biodegradable compost bags.

 Consumer goods packaging – The main market is that of silk paper, but there
are markets for magazines wrapping and bubble films, mainly for electronic
goods.

 Food packaging – Bags for fruit, vegetables, and bakery products. Starch-based
plastics allow for a better breathing of the products.

Composting bags – Bags used in the selective collecting of organic waste, which
will be treated to produce a compounds.

Hygiene-cosmetics – Diapers, swabs, and toothpicks

Funerary goods – Wraps for corpses, in compliance with the rules on the use of
biodegradable materials

In the granular state, it has been used as filling agent for polyolefin and as a
component in synthetic polymer blends. According to Lawter and Fischer (2000),
starches have also been modified by means of “grafting” with vinyl monomers
(e.g., methyl acrylate), originating materials for injection in molds or extrusion.
It is possible to produce starch films through the grafting of polymers, such as
polyethylene (PE). Only the starch films is biodegradable and these films are
practically no longer used (Lawter, Fischer, 2000).

IODINE TEST

When starch is mixed with iodine in water, an intensely colored starch/iodine

complex is formed. Many of the details of the reaction are still unknown. But it
seems that the iodine (in the form of I5- ions) gets stuck in the coils of beta
amylose molecules (beta amylose is a soluble starch). The starch forces the iodine
atoms into a linear arrangement in the central groove of the amylose coil. There
is some transfer of charge between the starch and the iodine. That changes the
way electrons are confined, and so, changes spacing of the energy levels. The
iodine/starch complex has energy level spacings that are just so for absorbing
visible light- giving the complex its intense blue color. The complex is very useful
for indicating redox titrations that involve iodine because the color change is very
sharp. It can also be used as a general redox indicator: when there is excess
oxidizing agent, the complex is blue; when there is excess reducing agent, the
I5- breaks up into iodine and iodide and the color disappears.

REINFORCING THE STARCH-BASED PLASTIC

Starch is a granular material from vegetable origin that is composed of two

natural polymers: amylopectin and amylose. These are polysaccharides with
different molecular weights and structures (the latter being almost linear, while
the former has a highly branched structure). Pure starch provides brittle and
friable materials, but this can be improved by destructurisation, a process in
which the granular structure of starch is destroyed by the combined use of shear,
temperature and time to provide a homogeneous material with both amylopectin
and amylose dispersed uniformly through the material (Kosior, et. al., 2006). The
properties of this destructurised starch can be improved by complexing; that is,
blending with other polymers (such as polycaprolactone, polyvinyl alcohol,
polylactic acid and other polyesters), nanofillers, plasticisers and fibres.

PROPERTIES OF STARCH BASED RESINS

STANDARD PROPERTIES OF BIOPLASTIC

BIODEGRADABILITY OF BIOPLASTIC

Unlike traditional oil based plastics, biodegradable plastics are made up of

biodegradable, bio-based, or both types of materials. "To be considered
biodegradable, this decomposition has to be measured by standardized tests,
and take place within a specified time period, which vary according to the
“disposal” method chosen. The American Society of Testing and Materials (ASTM)
have created definitions on what constitutes biodegradability in various disposal
environments” (i.e. Platt, 2014).
 Decomposition of Bioplastic

B. Review of Related Studies

CHAPTER III
A. Experimental Study

The following are the raw materials needed for the production of
bioplastic from banana peels:

Raw Material Function

Banana Peel Source of Starch
NaOH pH Adjuster
propane-1,2,3-triol Plasticizer
𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂5 Preservative
HCl Catalyst in hydrolysis

Procedure:
I. Preparation of Raw Materials

 Measuring of Raw Materials

In preparation for the production of bioplastic the following reagents
are measured: (1) 0.5 kilogram of banana peel; (2) 200 ml 0.5%
𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂5; (3) 3 ml HCl (4) 2 ml of propan-1,2,3-triol, (5) 3 ml NaOH
 Preparation of Banana Peels
1. The banana skin is removed using stainless steel knife.
2. The skin is washed in a running water to remove dirt and
impurities.
II. Extraction of Starch
1. A 800-ml beaker was filled with distilled water and placed over
a Bunsen burner.
2. The banana peels are dipped in 0.5% 𝑁𝑎2 𝑆2 𝑂5 solution and
placed in a beaker and boiled for 30 minutes.
3. After the boiling process, the beaker was removed from the
Bunsen burner and the peels were decanted off the water and
placed on and covered with a dry gauze pad, left to dry for 30
minutes.
4. After the peels were dried, they were placed in a clean 800 ml
beaker.
5. Using a hand blender, the peels were pureed until a fluid paste
was formed.
III. Forming of Plastic
1. 25 ml of banana paste was placed in each 50 ml beaker.
2. 3 ml of HCl was added and stirred using a glass stirring rod.
3. 2 ml of propan-1,2,3-triol was added to each beaker. The mixture
was stirred once more.
4. 3 ml NaOH is added and stirred using a glass rod.
5. The mixture was poured into a petri dish and put in the oven at
130 degrees Celsius. It was baked for half an hour.