Innocent Punungwe C18134551U BSC Biotechnology Block.

CUBT 216 Research Methods and Biostatistics

TITLE: PRODUCTION OF BIODEGRADABLE PLASTICS FROM SWEET POTATO STARCH

1. PROBLEM STATEMENT

Due to increased disposal of plastic materials as waste, it has become a challenge in

Zimbabwe for the petroleum-derived plastic to be degraded. Petroleum plastics are not
biodegradable because the polymer chains are too tight and large to be broken. Petroleum
derived plastic polymers are widely use as packaging material in various food industries and
cannot be degraded naturally over a short period . These plastics are regarded as plastic
waste and they pollute the environment. The methods used to destroy other waste cannot
destroy plastics. All these problems of plastic waste can be solved by the production of bio-
plastics which can be degraded naturally by microorganisms.

2. INTRODUCTION

Sweet potato is one of the agriculture products that contain a large amount of starch. It is
grown in wide parts of Zimbabwe. Sweet potatoes are believed to contain around 26grames
of carbohydrates, 29grames dietary fibre and also 2 grams of protein. Pure starch is a white,
tasteless, odourless and insoluble in cold water or alcohol.

A bio-plastic are substances that are made from organic material and the conventional
plastic are made from petroleum. Bio-plastic are derived from plant sources. Agriculture
waste in Zimbabwe can be used to produce bio-plastics that are degradable. Waste disposal
has become the biggest challenge in Zimbabwe with a lot of plastics scattered all over the
streets. These plastic pose a threat to domestic animals when they consume them. Bio-
plastic can be produced from starch which can be extracted from agriculture waste products
like potatoes, sweet potato, corn. These polymers can be degraded naturally by the action
of microorganisms (Laxmana R et al 2013). Both sweet potatoes and white potatoes provide
a rich source of starch and dietary fibre.

The production of petroleum plastics has dominated the plastic making industry. Their
dominance has been caused by their long life properties such as resistance to enzymatic
reactions. The American society for Testing and Materials had grouped degradable plastic
into;

1. Photodegradable plastics- these are degraded by the action of day light

2. Oxidative degradable plastics which degrade due to oxidation
3. Hydrolytitically degradable plastic which degrade due to hydrolysis
4. Biodegradable plastics which result from the action microorganisms

Biotechnology technology technique are being used to produce bio-plastics which are
degradable. Fermentation techniques are used to produce cellulose from plants which can
also be used to produce plastics (Siya S.2018). Plants are now used by researchers to
produce bio-plastics. Plants contain enzymes that are used by microorganism to produce
plastics (Siya S 2018).

Starch is increasingly used as functional group in many industrial application and foods
because of its ability to thicken (Ammar B. 2018). Cassava starch was used to produce bio-
degradable plastics and this starch was grafted with polystyrene coplolymer (Kaewtatip K
and Tanrattanakul V. 2008).

Synthetic polymers or petrochemical-based plastics like polyamides, nylon, polystyrene,

Teflon, polyethylene terephthalate and polyethylenes have been used as packaging material
in food industry (Ravindra et al,2018). Plastics made from starch are complex due to the
blending with compostable polymers, and this blending improves water resistance (Ravindra
et al, 2018).

3. AIM

The aim of this research is to extract starch from sweet potato and use it to produce
biodegradable plastics that can be environmental friendly.

Objectives

1. To compare biodegradability of conventional plastics and bio-plastics

2. To measure the tensile and bending forces
 4. MATERIALS

4.1 Materials for starch extraction

Sweet potato tubers

Knife

Grating machine (blender)

Sieve

Filtering cloth

Bowl

Oven

4.2 Materials for bio-plastic production

Sweet potato starches

Polyvinyl alcohol

Talc powder (lubricant)

Glycerine (plasticizer)

Urea (cross-link agent)

5. RESEARCH METHODLOGY
5.1 Extraction of starch
Peeling the sweet potato roots and then wash them with distilled water.The peeled
sweet potato roots are then grated and mixed with water.The extraction process is
then done by using centrifuge at different speeds (200, 400) rpm and different time
(10, 15) minutes.After centrifugation the samples are filtered using Whatman no. 1
and the supernatant neglected to get wet starch. The starch is then dried for 5 hours
at room temperature.
 5.2 The moisture content of sweet potato is tested using a moisture meter to ensure
that it is less than 13%. Sweet potato, polyvinyl alcohol talc powder and urea are
mixed in a ratio of 1:2:0,1:0,1. The resulting mixture is added to 400ml of
glycerine. The whole mixture is stirred to give a semi dry powder. After starring
it is then extruded to produce a biodegradable film.
5.3 Three tests are going to be done to validate the product which are;
 Testing the ability to hold water
 Testing biodegradability
 Testing the tensile and bending property

BUDGET

Quantity SRG Request

Services and supplies
Filtering Cloth 5 $30-00
Sweet potato tubers 20kgs $50-00
Grating machine(blender) 1 $210-00
Chemicals
Polyvinyl alcohol 5 litres 300-00
Talc powder (lubricant) 5kgs $150-00
Glycerine (plasticizer) 2litres $235-00
Total $975

6. CONCLUSION

The environmental concern of rapid growth of plastic wastes can be addressed with
biodegradable packaging solutions. The use of biodegradable plastic is a clear solution to
the problem of petroleum plastic waste. The biodegradable plastics can decompose in soil
and also add some nutrients and used as manure.

7. REFERENCES
1. Gupta A et al, 2013 International Journal of Emerging Technology
2. Kaewtatip K and Tanrattanakul V, 2008. Carbohydrate Polymer
3. Schon M and Schwartz P.
4. Ravindra V et al 2018. Starch based bio- Plastic. Open Journal of polymer

Chemistry. http://www.scirp.org/journal/ojpchem. (Viewed 01 September 2019

at 14;08 hours)
5. Ammar B, 2018.Extraction and Optimization of Potato Starch. Published in 2018.
(Viewed 03 September 2019 )