PHYSICAL, MECHANICAL, MORPHOLOGICAL, BIODEGRADABILITY, THERMAL, AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF RHIZOPUS OLIGOSPORUS MYCELIUM FOAM MADE WITH COCONUT AND COFFEE WASTE AS SUBSTRATES

By knowing the dangers of using Styrofoam as food packaging, this research aims to obtain 100% biodegradable food packaging by using coconut fiber (CF) and coffee pulp (CP) as substrate formulation in fungal fermentation to produce mycelium foam with the help of Rhizopus oligosporus as a starter. Five ratios of CF and CP are designed for substrate formulation, categorized as an independent factor with three replications. ANOVA tests show that different level of substrate formulation has a significant influence (P≤0.01) on physical, mechanical properties, and biodegradability of biofoam. LSD test showed that mycelium foam with higher density, lower porosity, and lower water absorption is gained from substrate formulation with a higher portion of coffee pulp. Formulation K3 has maximum compressive strength and puncture test, amongst others. Thermogram illustrates that thermal degradation temperature increases with a higher percentage of coconut fiber in formulation substrations. More complex functional groups are identified with FTIR in the resulting biofoam of K3, K4, and K5, where the coconut fiber is used in higher percentages. This phenomenon shows that the fungal activities are more rapid in these three formulations