Production of plastic from sea algae

• Main Author: Saodah, Ali
• Format: Undergraduates Project Papers
• Language: English
• Published: 2010
• Subjects: TP Chemical technology
• Online Access: http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/3407/1/CD5916_SAODAH_ALI.pdf; http://umpir.ump.edu.my/id/eprint/3407/

This research provides the information that related to a production of plastic from sea algae. The aim of this research was to produce the plastic from sea algae. Basically, the sea algae contain a large quantity of polymer protein and carbohydrates which is about 50 to 70 percent of its composition. Algae can be produced as a plastic by manipulating or doing structural changes to the polymer structure of the algae which is called as protein denaturation process. In a protein denaturation, the chemical agents; the combination of sodium dodecyl sulfate, SDS, sodium sulfite and urea were used to unfold the complex structure of protein polymer of algae. The procedures that involved in this production of plastic from sea algae were cutting, compounding, drying, and hot pressing. During compounding, the additives were added such as starch, fiber and plasticizer. The plastic was produced by using hot press machine at different temperature ranging from 110oC to 80oC and pressure is less than 10MPa. As the result obtained, formulation of sample with starch addition shows best performance which shows almost like a plastic characteristic. As a conclusion, a lot of works need to be done in order to produce better result, so that the plastic with the best characteristic can be produced. For further research, it is recommended that the extrusion process is used because it would be easier; in fact, it is most applicable in plastic production industry.