Improvement of Hydrophobicity of Urea Modified Tapioca Starch Film with Lignin for Slow Release Fertilizer Academic Article uri icon

abstract

  • Tapioca starch was chemically modified with urea in the presence of borate as crosslinker and catalyst. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) and viscosity were performed to measure qualitatively the reactivity of the mixture. To improve the hydrophobicity, 10% of lignin (10%L) was then added into the starch-urea-borate (SUB) system. The incorporation of lignin leads to lower water uptake film. It was found that lignin retards the urea release and the SUB10%L film is stable and stayed intact for one month after immersing in water which shows high potential as a biopolymer for slow release fertilizer.

publication date

  • 2012

number of pages

  • 4

start page

  • 350

end page

  • 354

volume

  • 626