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| UMM Team that Created Xanthan Gum (Photo: special) |
The University of Muhammadiyah Malang (UMM) students created a new innovation by making Xanthan Gum, which is usually used as a food thickener for sauces and ice cream. Currently, xanthan gum is made from the fermentation of xanthomonas campestris through the chemical process of synthesizing substrates containing carbon and nitrogen.
In response, the UMM team created an innovation using tapioca waste and chicken peptone to make Xanthan Gum. Salsabila Tazkiyatul Kamila, the team leader, said that tapioca waste is used to replace the role of being a carbon source in Xanthan Gum. While mashed chicken feathers act as a substitute for nitrogen.
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It takes a long process to get the peptone of chicken feathers wanted in this innovation. It is required to pay attention on the hygiene in the making, considering that the food will be consumed by humans. "Therefore, chicken feathers are washed thoroughly and also dried perfectly. If it fails, it will be wasted," she said.
Salsa even explains that this process requires several stages of hygiene. This includes reducing the size of the chicken feathers after cleaning them using disinfectant and running water. After that, the chicken feathers are hydrolyzed in a laboratory water bath using NaOH to neutralize the PH of the chicken feathers. Then, NaCl solution was added to neutralize the materials used. Followed by using a vacuum pump to remove gas and air, finally smoothing the chicken feathers to get nitrogen replacement powder.
"The process of getting the peptone is quite time-consuming, because it needs to see the weather and also the length of the process in the laboratory," said the student majoring in Food Engineering Study Program class of 2020.
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Moreover, it requires 0.4 grams of tapioca waste and a temperature of 80 degrees to activate 5 ml of bacteria that will be used in making this innovation. It takes at least 80 minutes for the first drying.
She and her team hope that this innovation could proceed to a more serious stage such as feasibility testing. Considering the fact that the materials they use have never been thought of by other researchers. "Of course there must be a feasibility test before being used. This innovation is not only good because it uses tapioca waste and chicken feathers, but also really useful and not harmful," she concluded. (*ri/wil/put)
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