There are increasing demands to substitute the plastic from the petrochemical industry with bacterial cellulose which were produced from microorganisms as Acetobactor xylinum strain. The aim of this study was to produce bacterial cellulose from banana peels which are agricultural waste around Walailak University area. The banana peels were used as a carbon source together with nutrient medium for the growth of bacteria. The ratio between Hestrin and Schramm nutrient medium (HS) with banana peel to DI water was 1:0.5, 1:1, and 1:1.5 (%V/V). Sugar content in banana peel (control) was 4.0% Degree Brix. The initial pH was 6.0 and sugar contents varied in this study were 5.5%, and 11% Degree Brix. A.xylinum dosages used in the cultivation were 5, 6.67, and 8.33 (%V/V) respectively. The cultivation times were 15 days at the temperature of 30 °C. As a result, the highest yield of produced bacterial cellulose was 19.46 gram and the best condition which maximum yield of bacterial cellulose 1.95% can be obtained was 11% (Brix) of sugar content, 6.67 (%V/V) of A.xylinum added, and 1:1.5 of banana peel to DI water. The physical properties of bacterial cellulose were studied with ATR-FTIR spectroscopy which shown adsorption spectrum at 3279, 2915, 1627 and 1013 cm-1 corresponding to the-OH,-CH,-CH2 and carboxyl function groups, respectively. Glass transition Temperature (Tg) was 116.85°C. Tensile strength was measured with UTM and had average value of 41.13±5.43 Mpa. The bacterial cellulose had moisture content of 90.00±0.02%. The synthesized bacterial cellulose can be used as adsorption media and also has its chemical properties like petroleum polymer. Result suggested that the similar property can be observed when compared with petroleum plastic, however with the exception of methyl group (CH3). Methyl group which can be found in plastic synthesized from petrochemical is responsible for the strength of plastic. Thus, bacterial cellulose, synthesized in this study, is not as strong as petrochemical plastic. But it can be used to produce bio-plastics because of the-CH and-CH2 functional group attached. With the similar physical and chemical properties to those of petrochemical plastic, bacterial cellulose can be used as biopolymer.

In this paper, toluene removal via photocatalytic oxidation using TiO2 dip coated nanofilms is presented. Nanofilms were synthesized from bacterial cellulose using the electrospinning technique. The physical properties of the nanofilms were analyzed by scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The ratio of bacterial cellulose/nylon used in the spinning process was 0.165:1. The results from SEM showed that the structure of the TiO2 composite nanofilms was rutile crystalline with an average particle size of 20 nm, and synthesized nanofilms had an average size of 20 - 30 nm. The band gap energies of TiO2-dip coated nanofilms ranged from 3.18 - 3.21 eV. SEM results of TiO2 coated nanofilms suggested that the TiO2 was rather uniformly distributed onto the surface of the nanofilms. The actual amount of TiO2 coated on the nanofilms was estimated using thermogravimetric analysis (TGA) for 1x1 cm2 surface area. It was found that 0.1852, 0.2897 and 0.7275 mg of TiO2 were coated on the surface of the nanofilms for 1, 2.5 and 5 % (weight) TiO2 dosage, respectively. The photocatalytic activity of the nanofilms was tested for the removal of gaseous toluene in a photocatalytic reactor. Experimental conditions were set as follows: UV light intensity of approximately 2.7 mW.cm-2, flow rate of 0.2 L.min-1, and an initial toluene concentration of about 200±20 ppm, and a retention time at 200 min. The degradation rate of toluene increased with increasing dosage of TiO2 from 1, 2.5 and 5 %. The nanofilms at a 5 % dosage yielded the highest removal efficiency of 92.71 %, followed by the 2.5 and 1 % dosage, respectively.