Xavier University - Ateneo de Cagayan

College of Arts and Sciences

AY 2019-2020

The Efficiency of Corn Starch and Banana Peels as Bioplastics

Qualitative Academic Paper
ENGLISH 5: Purposive Communication

Submitted by:
ABROGUEÑA Alexa (Results and Discussion)
AUXTERO Derrick Kean A. (Abstract and Conclusion)
BELIDA Jerlie (Introduction & Research Questions)
BONANI Angelyne I. (RRL & Methods)
UY Randee Allanah Belle (Results and Discussion)

ENGL 5-EC

Submitted to:
Ms. Nancy P. Cocamas

14 October 2019

AUXTERO Derrick Kean A.

 The Efficiency of Corn Starch and Banana
Peels as Bioplastics
Alexa Abroguena, Derrick Kean A. Auxtero, Jerlie Belida, Angelyne I. Bonani, Randee Uy

ABSTRACT
Plastics are one of the major pollutants in our environment. This study takes a look at two
biodegradable materials, corn starch and banana peels, as an alternative source for the production
of bioplastics.The bioplastics produced from both corn starch and banana peels were found to be
comparable to those commercially produced from fossil fuels. In terms of tensile strength, water
solubility and durability, corn starch was discovered to be more efficient compared to banana
peels. Several studies were also taken into account when determining the differences between the
key characteristics of corn starch and banana peels.
Keywords: Bioplastics, Corn Starch, Banana Peels, Biodegradable polymers

IV. Conclusion

Numerous studies have concluded the Banana starch performs very poorly
effective use of both corn starch and banana in terms of texture quality and water
starch as bioplastics. This is mainly due to the solubility. Bioplastics made purely from
various characteristics that both these banana peels resulted to grainy and rough
materials share with commercial plastics that products. Its inferior water solubility may be
come from fossil fuels. Corn starch and attributed to the looseness of its particles
banana peel extract both contain long chains which cause it to detach and break apart.
of carbon molecules making them a suitable
source of bioplastic. Additionally, they are References
free of chemicals and are easily compostable
making them incredibly eco-friendly. Corn Achinas, S., Krooneman, J., & Euverink, G.
starch and banana starch are also great for J.
large scale industrial production because of W. (2019). Enhanced Biogas
their abundance as a common household or
Production from the Anaerobic
industrial waste.
Between these two biodegradable Batch Treatment of Banana Peels.
materials, corn starch is objectively more Engineering. doi:
efficient compared to banana starch in terms 10.1016/j.eng.2018.11.036
of tensile strength, durability and water Chodijah, S., Husaini, A., Zaman, M., &
solubility. This claim is supported by several Hilwatulisan. (2019). Extraction of
studies which showed sufficient data Pectin from Banana Peels (Musa
confirming the superiority of corn starch
Paradiasica Fomatypica) for
among the aforementioned characteristics.
Biodegradable Plastic Films. Journal
 of Physics: Conference Series, 1167, 7665–7671. doi:
012061. doi: 10.1088/1742- 10.1016/j.biortech.2008.01.075
6596/1167/1/012061 BFEP. Banana fiber extracting project. 2009.
Marichelvam, Jawaid, & Asim. (2019). Corn http://farmnest.com/forum/consultan
and Rice Starch-Based Bio-Plastics cy/best-out-of-agro-waste-(banana-
fiber-extractor/
as Alternative Packaging Materials.
BCMCL. Bananas Could Make Cars Leaner,
Fibers, 7(4), 32. doi: Greene. 2011.
10.3390/fib7040032 http://www.wired.com/autopia/2011/
Shamsuddin, I. M. (2017). Bioplastics as 03/ bananas-could-make-cars-
Better Alternative to Petroplastics leanergreener/
and Their Role in National BI. Bioplastic innovation, 2011. Micromidas
Sustainability: A Review. Advances is using carefully constructed
populations of bacteria to convert
in Bioscience and Bioengineering,
organic waste into biodegradable
5(4), 63. doi: plastics. http://bioplastic-
10.11648/j.abb.20170504.13 innovation.com/2011/07/29/micromi
Song, Y., & Zheng, Q. (2008). Improved das-is-using-carefully-constructed-
tensile strength of glycerol- populations-of-bacteriato-convert-
plasticized gluten bioplastic organic-waste-into-bio-degradable-
containing hydrophobic liquids. plastics.`
Bioresource Technology, 99(16),

BELIDA Jerlie
I. Introduction entirely or partly plastic materials. Plastics are
widely used for various applications because
The use of plastics has increased
they are inexpensive, readily available, durable
significantly in the recent past. The world is
and versatile. Even though plastics have
already full of plastics. Practically, everything
undeniable positive effects on people’s lives
that people see and use in their daily lives is
and industry, it still has several disadvantages. Also, the researchers seek to find out whether
It has toxic effects and cannot be destroyed corn starch is more efficient as a bioplastic than
quickly and naturally by destructive microbes banana peel starch.
in the soil. It also contributes to the
Research Questions
accumulation of waste, pollution and
environmental damage. Because of this, many This study aims to find out the efficacy
scientists invented biodegradable polymers as of bioplastics made from banana peel starch
a substitute for petrochemical based polymers and corn starch.
(Maulida, Siagian & Tarigan, 2016). This Specifically, this study sought answers
biodegradable polymers or bioplastics are more to the following questions:
robust and flexible and can mimic the
mechanical strength of the conventional 1.What characterize corn starch and
plastic. Its uniqueness is that it does not banana peel starch as bioplastics?
disintegrate into micro plastic that could harm 2. What are the manifestations of
the environment. It also dissolves in water production efficacy of both the corn
releasing toxic chemicals. The production of starch and banana peel starch?
bioplastics is simple and they are widely used 3. What makes corn starch more
for packaging applications. efficient than banana starch in terms
Starch is one of the major sources in the of tensil strength, durability and
development of bioplastic. Approximately water solubility?
50% of the bioplastics used commercially are BONANI Angelyne I.
prepared from starch (Marichelvam Jawaid &
Asim, 2019). Starch is often used in the form of
Review of Related Literature
biodegradable films in a variety of applications
as they are renewable, abundant and Much attention has been focused on
inexpensive materials. Bananas and corns are research to replace petroleum-based
just some of the many raw materials that can be commodity plastics with biodegradable
used to produce starch-based bioplastics for materials offering competitive mechanical
they are both particularly high in starch. In the properties (Adhikari et al., 2016). Common
dry flesh and peel of a green banana, 69.5% and types of bioplastics that decompose are mostly
22.6% are their starch content respectively. For made of starch, sometimes in combination with
one cup of corn kernels, it contains 18.2% of vegetable oil or animal fat to substitute for the
starch and a whole maize grain has starch polymers made from petroleum (Song,
content between 68 and 74%. Murphy, Narayan & Davies, 2009). Starch is
Utilization of the banana peel and corn one of the major sources in the development of
for the production of starch based bioplastic bioplastic. Starch consists of a long chain of
can help reduce the environmental damages two glucose units joined together, namely
that are caused by conventional plastics. The branched polymerized amylopectin and
goal of this study is to find out the efficacy of amylose, which gives its granular structure.
banana peel and corn starch as bioplastics. According to Prasad (2014), the amylose
content is responsible for the plastic formation biopolymer for bioplastics have been widely
in starch. Moreover, starch can behave like a explored. In a study conducted by Asim et. al.,
thermoplastic in the presence of plasticizer, (2019), they have proven that corn-based
with application of heat and mechanical thermoplastic starch can be an alternative
treatment (Ahmmad et. al., 2014). packaging material. In addition, they found out
One of the most common waste forms that glycerol, citric acid, and gelatin are best
of starch is the banana peels. Banana peels plasticizers in preparing the thermoplastic
consists of high sources of starch, which is starch (TPS) film of the corn. Furthermore,
about 18.5% (Astuiti & Erprihana, 2014). As numerous studies also showed the durability or
banana peels ripen, the glucose level increases. the tensile strength of corn as bioplastics.
However, if the peels are too ripe, the starch Muscat et. al., (2019), studied the performance
will be converted into glucose while the least of low amylose and high amylose starches to
ripened peels, becomes too firm but still high form films. Starch films were plasticized using
in starch molecules (Soltani et. al., 2010). glycerol and xylitol. They have found out that
Therefore, banana peels can be suggested as a an increase in the concentration of plasticizers
suitable source for the manufacturing of would lead to an increase in the tensile strength.
bioplastics. Furthermore, another study Moreover, they also concluded that tensile
conducted by Khanna & Kanoujiya (2019), strength is observed in films with high amylose
proved that the starch in the content. Corn starch has been found to have a
high amylose content (Novianti, 2019). Thus, it
would be a good alternative for packaging
materials.

banana peel could be used in the production of Methods

biodegradable plastic. In the study, they used
To attain the objectives of this study,
soil as the primary determinant of the production of bioplastics were done in
degradation of banana peels as bioplastics. The laboratory scale. Commercially available
physical parameters of soil were tested by banana (Musa acuminata) and corn starch were
growing moong seeds in the soil containing the used in the study. The following procedures
bioplastic and synthetic plastic and compared it were done to create bioplastics out from the
with the natural soil. Based on all the testing two organic samples.
that was carried out, the biodegradable plastic
from banana peels was found to be the best and
Preparation of Banana Skins
eco friendly compared with synthetic plastic.
Step 1: Banana peels are removed
Hence, it can be used in the industry for various
using stainless steel knife and
applications such as molding and packaging.
converted into small pieces. Then peels
Meanwhile, corn is a well-known
are dip in sodium metabisulphite
source for starch and has become one of
(0.2M) solution for 45 minutes. It is
human’s main sources of food (Novianti et. al.,
used as antioxidant and preservative.
2019). In fact, studies on using corn as potential
 This would increase the
biodegradation period of plastic.
Step 2: Banana peels are boiled in
distilled water for about 30 minutes.
Step 3: The water is decanted from
the beaker and the peels are now left
to dry on filter paper for about 30
minutes
Step 4: After the peels are dried, they
are placed in a beaker and using a
hand blender, the peels are pureed
until a uniform paste is formed.

Production of Plastic
Step 1: 25gm of banana paste is
placed in a beaker
Step 2: 3ml of (0.5 N) HCl is added
to this mixture and stirred using glass
rod. Step 3: 2ml Plasticizer (Glycerol)
is added and stirred.
Step 4: 0.5 N NaOH is added
according to pH desired, after a desired
residence time.
Step 5: The mixture is spread on a
ceramic tile and this is put in the oven Final bioplastic film after drying.
at 1200 C and is baked.
Corn Starch Extraction
Step 6: The tile is allowed to cool and The following steps detail extracting
the film is scraped off the surface the starch from corn by the manual method.
First, 100 g corn was washed and boiled with
water for an hour. More corn was ground in a
mortar with 100 mL purified water. The
mixture was filtered and the remaining solid
mass was put into the mortar. Repeat the
procedure five times to obtain more starch. The
blend was allowed to settle in the beaker for 5
min. Then, 100 mL of purified water was added
and was agitated softly. The water was
removed after repeating the above process 3–4
times and the starch, white in color, was
obtained, as shown in Figure 1. About 40 g of
starch was obtained from 100 g of corn.

Figure 1. Extracted starch.

Preparation of Bioplastics Film

In corn starch-based TPS, glycerol is used

as plasticizer, due to its better mechanical
properties and good water solubility, ranging from
18 to 25%, though it can increase up to 36% . It was
shown that the glycerol concentration would not
affect the glass transition temperatures. TPS film
was prepared according to the following procedure:
starch, glycerol, gelatin, and citric acid were added
to 100 mL distilled water in various ratios. The
mixture was stirred at a rate of 180 rpm for 10 min.
Then the mixture was heated on a hot plate at 100
°C, and manual stirring was done for 70 min,
continuously. It was then poured onto a Teflon-
coated glass plate and spread uniformly. It took 3–
4 days for the mixture to dry out and the cast film ABROGUEÑA Alex
was removed.

II. Results & Discussion

Properties of Corn Starch

Corn starch has been widely used for
the creation of bioplastics. The type of
bioplastic produced using corn starch is cold
polylactic acid (PLA) plastics. PLA plastics are
not just biodegradable, but are biocompostable.
The way corn starch bioplastics are made is that
corn kernels are submerged in sulfur dioxide
and hot water in order to break it down to
starch, proteins and fiber. It is then grounded to Different studies showed that the average
separate the corn oil from the starch, making it tensile strength of corn starch-based bioplastics
less liquid and more paste-like. The extracted amount to about 2-11 MPa, varying due to the
starch is composed of long chains of carbon amount of corn starch used. Adding additional
molecules, similar to the carbon chains in materials that help in durability, for example
plastic from fossil fuels (Cho, 2017), thus plasticizers, affect the tensile strength of the
making bioplastics made from corn starch is as bioplastics. The following tables were taken
durable as petroleum-based plastics. What from two different studies, namely “Corn and
makes corn starch a suitable source for Rice Starch-Based Bio-Plastics as Alternative
bioplastic is that, firstly, it is a renewable Packaging Materials” (2019) and “Synthesis
source. Second, corn starch bioplastics are and Testing of Corn Starch Based
durable at the same time can be easily disposed Biodegradable Plastic and Composite” (2017).
as they are compostable. Corn starch
bioplastics have no mixed toxic chemicals in
making them, thus making them eco-friendly
and safe for food storage (Greenworld, n.d.).
The table below, taken from Marichelvam,
Table 2. Corn Starch Bioplastic Tensile Strength from
Jawaid and Asim’s study on corn and rice Corn and Rice Starch-Based Bio-Plastics as Alternative
starch-absed bioplastics (2019), shows the Packaging Materials.
properties of corn starch.

Table 3. Corn Starch Bioplastic Tensile Strength from

Synthesis and Testing of Corn Starch Based
Biodegradable Plastic and Composite.
Table 1. Corn Starch Properties from Corn and Rice
Starch-Based Bio-Plastics as Alternative Packaging 2. Water Solubility
Materials.
Starch-based bioplastics are more
soluble in water compared to petroleum-based
Characterization of Corn Starch-Based plastics, which means that bioplastics are easily
Bioplastic broken down or dissolved with use of water. A
high concentration of starch composition
1. Tensile Strength would result in an increase of water solubility
Tensile strength is defined as the of the bioplastic. The water solubility of a
maximum load an object can take without it bioplastic is correlated to the absorption
breaking or stretching (Encyclopaedia percentage of that material. Starches are
Britannica, n.d.). The tensile strength of the hydrophilic materials, thus the reason of it
bioplastics differs due to composition and absorbing water at a high percentage. The
concentration. The tensile strength of the tables below, taken from 2 varying studies
bioplastics can be tested using a tensiometer. (“Corn and Rice Starch-Based Bio-Plastics as
Alternative Packaging Materials” (2019) and
“Biodegradation Studies of Polyvinyl
Alcohol/Corn Starch Blend Films in Solid and
Solution Media” (2011)), show the water
solubility percentage of bioplastics made from
corn starch. It is to be noted that the varying
water solubility percentages are due to the
different ratio of the components and materials
used.

UY Randee Allanah Belle

Table 4. Corn Starch Bioplastic Water Solubility from

Corn and Rice Starch-Based Bio-Plastics as Alternative II. Results & Discussion
Packaging Materials.
Banana Peel Starch

Biomass is organic, plant or animal

based source of material that can be converted
into different forms of bioplastic materials,
biofuel and bioenergy using different
biotechnological procedures. Numerous
studies show the comparison of nano-cellulose
sized particles for the multiple use in the
industry. Current results can conclude that it is
possible to prepare banana peel lingo-
Table 5. Corn Starch Bioplastic Water Solubility from cellulosed based nanoparticle which means that
Biodegradation Studies of Polyvinyl Alcohol/Corn banana peel is a good source of biomass for the
Starch Blend Films in Solid and Solution Media production of bioplastic. The large quantity of
banana has the potential of being used
industrially and, thereby, to improve banana
economics and eliminate the large
environmental problems presented by banana
waste.
Food grade bioplastic has become a
popular research topic these days. Banana peel
starch bioplastic starts off with the drying of the
banana peel. Three hours in the oven that is
kept at 170 degrees Celsius is enough to make
the banana peel dry and ready for the next step.
It is then crushed into fine particles. Once it is
fine enough, water and adhesive will be added
into it. The mixture is then heated until
everything is mixed together. After which, the
substance is placed in a mold and will be sun
dried.
 However, further studies are still
required in order to develop bioplastic that has
comparable mechanical and water barrier
properties with synthetic plastic. Bioplastics
made only from banana peel starch resulted to
a very grainy and rough texture which would
not really do good in the industry since people
are looking for the typical smooth and clear
plastic. The water solubility as well was not as

good because the water caused the loose

particles to detach from the bioplastic, breaking
apart the material. But despite the texture and
poor water solubility, if the bioplastic is kept
dry, its tensile strength is comparable to the
synthetic plastic we use.
To improve mechanical and water
barrier properties of banana peel starch
bioplastic, bacterial cellulose is added to create
hybrid filler with banana pseudostem fibre in
glycerol laminated corn starch matrix. The
filler banana pseudostem fibre and bacterial
cellulose were first dispersed in a mixture of
glycerol and distilled water, starch was added
and the mixture was heated until gelatinization
occurred. The mixture was then casted and
dried in an oven.