Malays. Appl. Biol. (2019) 48(2): 83–87
PENGHASILAN SELULOSA BAKTERIA YANG EKONOMIK
DARIPADA AIR KELAPA TUA
NUR SYAFIQAH KAMARUDIN1, NORLIZA ABDUL RAHMAN1*, MOHD. SAHAID KALIL1,
SITI KARTOM KAMARUDIN2 and FAEZAH ESA1
1Program Kejuruteraan Kimia, Fakulti Kejuruteraan dan Alam Bina, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia,
43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
2Institut Sel Fuel, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600 Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia
*E-mail: This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Accepted 9 May 2019, Published online 31 May 2019
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.
Key words: Bacterial cellulose, matured coconut water, fermentation, economics, simulation process
