PENGHASILAN SELULOSA BAKTERIA YANG EKONOMIK DARIPADA AIR KELAPA TUA

Abstract

Bacterial cellulose (SB) is a unique biopolymer produced naturally by bacteria and has been used in various types of industries. Compared to plant cellulose, SB has a purer structure. Production of SB in large scale, especially for industrial purposes, requires exploration on each process and operating cost. The use of matured coconut water, a domestic waste as fermentation media in the production of bacterial cellulose is one of the alternatives to tackle the pollution problem due to improper disposal of this solution and at the same time, it can reduce the cost of fermentation. The optimum conditions of the fermentation process were determined by response surface methodology (RSM) through manipulating temperature, pH reading and fermentation period. A total of three comparisons with previous studies were conducted through simulation of SB processing plant using SuperoPro Designer software. Results showed that the production process designed in this study requires the cheapest operating cost compared to other alternatives with only RM261 / group and thus make it an economical processing plant and has the potential to be applied.