Abstract:
Plastic is a synthetic polymer compound formed from the polymerization of monomers
composed of hydrocarbon bonds. The high use of plastic has an impact on increasing piles
of plastic waste, one of the efforts made to reduce this problem is to carry out
biodegradation. The purpose of this study was to determine the ability of thermophilic
bacteria with isolate codes LBKURCC185, LBKURCC186, LBKURCC187,
LBKURCC188, LBKURCC189, and LBKURCC190 genus Pseudomonas sp. and
Thermus sp. to degrade Polyethylene Terephthalate (PET) plastic during an incubation
period of 4 weeks using a temperature of 50 oC. This research method is a biodegradation
test in Nutrient Agar (NA) and Mineral Salt (MSM) solid media. The bacteria that had
the highest percentage of degradation was LBKURCC186 genus Pseudomonas sp., which
experienced a decrease in PET weight of 0.85% in the MSM test medium. FTIR results
showed a decrease in wave number, bond breaking, and formation of functional groups
at O-H, C-H aliphatic, C=O, C=C, and C-O, as well as a change in the percentage value
of the transmission. SEM analysis showed that there was damage to the surface of the test
PET with the addition of LBKURCC186 bacteria, which made the PET surface uneven;
there were cavities and lumps after an incubation period of 4 weeks.
