The effect of polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) addition on biodegradable foam production from sago starch

Biodegradable foam is a natural packaging material as an alternative of Styrofoam. Sago starch can be used to produce biodegradable foam because of its low cost, low density, low toxicity and biodegradability. Starch based foam has several drawback such us high water absortion and poor mechanical properties. Therefore, starch modification and addition of polyvinyl alcohol (PVOH) are required. The objective of the study to determine the effect of PVOH addition on biodegradable foam production from sago starch. Biodegradable foam was produced by baking process at 125°C for 1 hour. The variables used in this research were PVOH concentrations vary at 0, 10, 20, 30, 40, and 50 wt. %. Analysis tests were also conducted with several series such as water absorption test, biodegradability test, and tensile test. The results shows that higher concentration of PVOH in the biodegradable foam production affected an improvement in water absorption, biodegradability, and tensile strength. The optimum condition occurred by 30% PVOH addition with a value of water adsorption, biodegradability, and tensile strength were, respectively, 29.42%, 25.13%, and of 2.22 MPa.