Zainal Alim Masud - Department of Chemistry, Bogor Agricultural University, Dramaga Campus, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
Mohammad Khotib - Department of Chemistry, Bogor Agricultural University, Dramaga Campus, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
Muhamad Farid - Department of Chemistry, Bogor Agricultural University, Dramaga Campus, Bogor 16680, Indonesia
Anwar Nur - Department of Chemistry, Bogor Agricultural University, Dramaga Campus, Bogor 16680, Indonesia

Background: Cassava waste pulp from the tapioca industry is abundant in Indonesia. However, there have been fewIndonesian or international papers describing research on the possible use of cassava waste pulp as asuperabsorbent after modification. The goal of this work was to increase the added value of cassava waste pulp byconverting it into a superabsorbent. This conversion was carried out by a graft copolymerization of cassava wastepulp using acrylamide, ammonium persulfate, and N,N′-methylene-bisacrylamide as a monomer, an initiator, and acrosslinker, respectively. The copolymerization was conducted at 70°C for 3 h and saponified with 1 M NaOH for 2 h.Results: The superabsorbent had a maximum water absorption capacity of 1,014 g/g at pH 7.3; the absorbency wasaffected by the salinity of the medium. The rate parameter for absorption in distilled water was 5.4 min. Theformation of a superabsorbent was confirmed by FTIR spectroscopy, as the spectra exhibited all characteristic bandsof both cassava waste pulp and acrylamide.Conclusion: Cassava waste pulp has a great potential to be used as a superabsorbent, which could give addedvalue to cassava.

Cassava waste pulp, Acrylamide, Copolymerization, Superabsorbent, Water absorption capacity