Preparation and Characterization of Biopolymer Film from Pomelo Pectin and Flour

Properties of biopolymer films which were blended from pectin and flour were investigated. Pectin was extracted from pomelo peel by using hydrochloric acid. The extracted pectin was high methoxyl that was characterized by FTIR. Biopolymer film was prepared by blending pectin (3% and 5%) and flour (1% of corn flour, rice flour, and glutinous rice flour) solution at different ratio (4:1 and 3:2). SEM analysis, tensile strength (TS), elongation, and thickness were studied. Tensile test was affected by the amount of pectin and type of flour. At the same concentration of pectin and the ratio of pectin and flour, tensile strength of the film form glutinous rice flour blending was higher than rice and corn flour. The stress of film from glutinous rice flour, rice flour, and corn flour at 3% pectin at ratio of pectin and flour 3:2 was 68.65, 58.25, 46.31 MPa, respectively. In addition, the tensile stress was increased when the amount of glutinous rice flour was increased. The film thickness was 0.1 +/- 0.02 mm. Considered the properties of these polymer compared with synthetic polymer, these are interesting alternative for packaging material production.