Application of bacterial cellulose film as a biodegradable and antimicrobial packaging material

• Main Authors: Zahan, Khairul Azly, Azizul, Nur Maisarah, Mustapha, Mahfuzah, Tong, Woei Yenn, Abdul Rahman, Muhammad Shahrir, Sahuri, Iylia' Syahmi
• Format: Conference Proceeding
• Language: English
• Subjects: Acetobacter xylinum; Antimicrobial; Bacterial cellulose; Biodegradable; Biopolymer; Packaging
• ISSN: 2214-7853; 2214-7853
• DOI: 10.1016/j.matpr.2020.01.201

Nowadays, conventional petroleum-based plastic had become the third-largest solid waste volume in municipal solid waste. Although recycling plastic was aimed to minimize its quantity, the recycling process still releases toxic materials into the environment. Thus, the best solution is to use biodegradable plastic. Additionally, due to the health concern of consumers, especially over the safety of food, the packaging industry had shown greater interest in the use of bio-preservatives for antimicrobial (AM) packaging. This study aimed to develop a new biodegradable and AM packaging material from bacterial cellulose (BC) film. BC is a natural biopolymer synthesized by bacteria. Here, BC was produced through a static fermentation of Acetobacter xylinum 0416 in the Hestrin-Schramm medium, while the AM packaging was developed using a soaking method. The BC film produced was incorporated with lauric acid (LA) at different concentration (2, 4 and 6% w/v) and different soaking time (4, 14 and 24 hr). The characteristics and functionalities of the incorporated BC-LA film were analyzed for the AM activity and biodegradation test. The results depicted that incorporation of BC film with LA provides a good inhibition effect towards the growth of Bacillus subtilis, while the effect on the growth of Escherichia coli was absent. Additionally, the pure BC film also goes through more than 50% of degradation in 3 days and 100% of degradation starting from day 7 in the soil. Further investigation had determined that the responsible degrading microbes were Bacillus sp. and Rhizopus sp. As overall, this new packaging material was successfully developed and showed wide potential applications to be used in food, pharmaceutical and medical field.