Bioplastic From Starch- Phase 1 : Extraction of Starch from potatoes

  INTRODUCTION

Plastic is a material that is used to a great extent. Most plastics that are commercially used today are petroleum based, meaning that they can take more than a century to degrade. Nothing in our natural environment is capable of easily breaking them down since polyurethane and polyethylene are man made polymers that microorganisms don’t recognize as food. When burned, plastics release cancer causing carcinogenic chemicals that are equally harmful to people and the environment. The world is drowning in excess environmentally harmful plastic which is made from oil- a nonrenewable resource.

Bioplastics are a large family of different materials with different properties. Fossil fuel-derived plastics are non-renewable, often threaten the environment, have declining impacts on marine life and increase dependence on imported fossil fuel-based feedstock’s. A plastic material is defined as bioplastics if it is either, biobased, biodegradable, or features both properties.Biodegradation is a chemical process during which the tiny organism or microorganism that is present in the environment convert materials into natural substances such as water, carbon dioxide, and compost that predominantly depend on the surrounding environmental conditions. One of the most undeniable and long-lasting recent changes to our planet is the accumulation and fragmentation of plastics.

One environmentally friendly alternative to the current commercial plastic is Bioplastics. Bioplastics are biodegradable plastics that have components derived directly from renewable raw plant materials. Their polymers are made from plant materials and they decay into natural materials that blend harmlessly with soil. Some bioplastics can break down in a matter of weeks. Therefore, bioplastic can be a better option for our present day problem of waste management and our project will be based on potato obtained starch bioplastic.

    

Experiment Procedure:

Objective-

To prepare bioplastic from starch extracted from potato.

The experiment was done in two phases :

1. Extraction of starch from potato.

2. Preparation of bioplastic from starch.

Phase 1:

Extraction of starch from potato.

Aim: To isolate the starch from the given potato sample.

Principle: Starch is an important polysaccharide found in plant sources. The microscopic appearance of starch is in the form of granules. It is typical for the individual starch granules. They differ in size depending on the source from which they were isolated. Starch is insoluble in water and rapidly settles at the bottom and can be collected by decanting the supernatant. 

Materials Required: 500 gm Potato, Muslin Cloth, Watch Glass, Mortar and Pestle, Test Tube, Iodine solution etc., 

Procedure: 

1. Peel a raw potato and cut into small pieces, and record the initial weight. 2. Grind them in a motor and pestle with sufficient water. 

3. Collect the potato homogenate into a beaker and add enough water. 

4. Then filter the homogenate through a muslin cloth to remove the particles. 

5. Allow the filtrate to settle. Starch rapidly settles at the bottom. Decant the starch free supernatant carefully. 

6. Wash 3-4 times and decant the supernatant. Collect the compact mass of starch and allow it to dry. 

7. Record the final weight of isolated starch and calculate the yield.

Result: The given sample contains  18 gm of starch/100 gm potato. 

Iodine Test: Take a small quantity of test solution with a drop of 1 N HCl and then add two drops of iodine solution. Formation of blue colour indicates the presence of starch. 

Product from this Experiment :

We got nearly 100 gram of  starch from 500 gm of potato from the above done procedure which will be used further for preparation of bioplastic.