The water solubility of boiled and unboiled calamansi (Citrus x microcarpa) peels in bioplastic production /
by Anne Stephanie T. Gatilao, Jayla Dominique G. Viterbo, MC Garnet L. Nava, Cyd Edryc T. Esmaņa, & Ma. Sofia Beatrice S. Pagunsan.
- [Iloilo City] : [Ateneo de Iloilo], c2025.
- 43 p.
This study evaluated the water solubility of boiled and unboiled calamansi (Citrus x microcarpa) peels in bioplastic production. With growing environmental concerns over plastic pollution and the underutilization of citrus waste, this study explored an eco-friendly alternative to conventional plastics. The composition of the calamansi (Citrus x microcarpa) peels was investigated in order to determine if it can be used for bioplastic production. The Benedict's test confirmed the presence of reducing sugars in calamansi peels, while Lugol's iodine test showed the absence of starch. The study focused on two treatment groups in making the calamansi peel bioplastic: one using boiled calamansi peels and the other using unboiled peels. Water solubility tests were conducted through measuring the mass loss of the bioplastic after 24-hours of submersion in distilled water. Boiled bioplastic samples exhibited a higher mean mass loss of 0.2059 (or 20.59%) compared to 0.0957 (or 9.57%) in unboiled samples. The standard deviations were 0.0264 and 0.0039, respectively, indicating greater variability among boiled samples. A Shapiro-Wilk test confirmed that both datasets were normally distributed, justifying the use of an independent t-test. The t-test revealed a statistically significant difference between the two groups (t = 5.1981, p = 0.0008), indicating that boiling significantly enhanced the bioplastic's water solubility. These findings suggested that the reducing sugars in calamansi peels contributed to viable bioplastic production, and that boiling improved the material's degradability in water. This has implications for developing biodegradable plastics as sustainable alternatives to petroleum-based polymers. Further research is recommended to optimize formulation and assess long-term performance.