Effect of Different Treatment Methods on the Purification of Bacterial Cellulose Produced from OPF Juice by Acetobacter Xylinum

Bacterial cellulose (BC) is a form of cellulose produced by Acetobacter xylinum via fermentation process. BC contains impurities such as medium broth or the cell biomass. This study aims to determine the effect of purification method on the BC produced from oil palm frond (OPF) juice. Three purification method was presented in this study; first, BC was treated with different NaOH concentration at constant temperature of 70°C. Second, the BC was treated with different temperature while the NaOH concentration was fixed at 0.1M. Lastly, the BC was further purified in distilled water at different temperature. Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and field emission scanning electron microscope (FESEM) analysis revealed that chemical composition of BC is similar to the natural cellulose without the present of biomass impurities as no peak at 1800 – 1500 cm −1 can be detected. Higher percentage for loss of biomass, 22.03 % can be obtained when the BC was treated with 1.0 M NaOH at 90°C and further purified in distilled water at 90°C. As conclusion, pure BC which are free from any impurities can be obtained by using proposed method.