Susanto Arif Sardjono, Heru Suryanto, Aminnudin, Muhamad Muhajir
Quality of bacterial nanocellulose (BNC) membrane is highly dependent on the membrane structure properties. Crystallinity and morphology are two of the properties needed to determine the quality of a membrane. The objective of the study is to investigate the influence of high-pressure homogenizer (HPH) process on the crystalline structure and morphology of the BNC membrane. The methods were conducted by fermentation of pineapple peel extract using Acetobacter xylinum for 10 days. Resulted pellicle was disintegrated by high-speed blender, followed by HPH with 150 bars then poured to a rectangular glass mold. The solution was dried in the electric oven for 4 hours, 70°C. The dry membrane was characterized by X-Ray Diffraction (XRD) for analyzing the crystallinity and scanning electron microscopy (SEM) test for morphology observation. The result shows that the crystalline structure of BNC membrane was changed after the HPH process. It was found that the crystalline index of BNC membrane was decreased from 88% to 86% by applying pressure of 150 bars. From SEM observation results show that additional treatment using HPH resulting in the fiber to reduce the particle size, which is confirming the XRD test. © 2019 Author(s).
Mechanical Engineering, Graduate School, Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia; Centre of Advanced Material for Renewable Energy (CAMRY), Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia; Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Universitas Negeri Malang, Indonesia
