Environmental Management through Characterization of Synthesized Bioplastics Based on Soybean Agro Waste and Identification of Fungi for their Biodegradation

Abstract

Increasing demand for plastic and its hazardous impact on environment, encouraged researcher to develop biological based plastics as an alternative to petroleum-based plastic. The present study was conducted to synthesized and characterize bioplastics from soybean agro waste and also to identify the responsible fungi for its degradation. Two types of bioplastics were synthesized by mixing soybean agro waste with corn starch and potato starch, respectively, with a specific concentration. Glycerol was added as a plasticizer for bioplastic synthesis. Characterizations were carried out in terms of water absorption capacity, burning test, thermal strength, and mechanical strength. Water absorption test shows that the mass increased up to 112.6% and 118.1% for bioplastics of potato starch and corn starch, respectively which shows a large amount of water uptake by both bioplastics. Both the plastics could tolerate 80 ͦC for 5 hours proved high thermal strength. On burning both gave a faint smell of soy and glue like substances. When compared for mechanical strength 10 gm corn starch bioplastic could hold more than 80gm weight whereas potato starch bioplastic (10gm) has capacity to hold 50 gm weight. The overall characterization proved soy waste with corn starch as excellent bioplastic, though potato starch could be used for synthesizing soft plastics. Further for their biodegradation, fungi were identified as penicillium chrysogenum, Aspergillus flavus, Mucor ramosissimus, Fusarium solani, Aspergilus niger, Penicillium expansum. The overall conclusion of the work is that the bio-based plastics have exhibited good thermal and mechanical properties with high biodegradability that makes them a suitable alternative for the existing conventional plastics.