Vegetables and fruits are the main food commodities of human beings that belong to the components of 4 healthy 5 perfect, where consumption is not enough just a day. But it is also needed for the next days. Therefore, it takes a tool to preserve vegetables and fruits. So far, there has been found a preservation technology titled refrigerator. On the other hand, the refrigerator also has some drawbacks. That is, its users can produce CFC gas that has the potential to damage the ozone layer and requires considerable power. Therefore, an environmentally friendly and energy efficient preservation solution is needed. With that we are proudly present MICROHOLDER as a smart solution that is environmentally friendly, energy efficient, and economical. MICROHOLDER is a vegetable and fruit preservation technology with the use of UV rays received by SOL TiO2-SiO2 in glass substrates. Microholder’s components include UV Lamps, TiO2 and SiO2 from lapindo mud. UV lamps can emit light that cannot be seen by the eye with its wavelength in the range of 1-400 nanometers. UV rays can be used in photochalic systems. TiO2 is one of the photolicative materials. The working principle of Photolicative TiO2 is that when titanium dioxide is nano-sized exposed to UV rays, super dioxide compounds will be formed that can degrade various harmful organic compounds and bacteria, so that it can be used as a preservative for fruits and vegetables. TiO2 was chosen because it has strong photocatalytic activity, good chemical stability, not baracun and relatively cheap price. SiO2 is the most researched and proven material that with the addition of SiO2, TiO2 photocatalic activity becomes higher compared to pure TiO2. In microholder, SiO2 is obtained from Lapindo Mud. Lapindo mudflow is a natural disaster that occurred in sidoarjo area, Indonesia. The mud has submerged about 16 villages in 3 subdistricts for approximately 15 years causing losses of 45 trillion rupiah. With Microholder, the problem can be used as a solution to overcome vegetable and fruit problems in Indonesia. Based on the test results, it is known that microholder preservation is considered better than without preservation. This can be seen from the difference in mass from day to day in each sample. The decrease in fruit mass is related to a decrease in water content in the fruit, low water content prevents the growth of microorganisms that cause the decay of vegetables and fruits.
MICROHOLDER: TOOLS FOR VEGETABLES AND FRUITS PRESEVATIVES BASED ON ENVIROMENTALLY TiO2, SiO2, LUSI (SIDOARJO MUD) NANOCOMPOSITE
Short Description:
Vegetables and fruit are foodstuffs that contain water content and a pH suitable for microorganisms to live so they quickly decompose. In addition, vegetables and fruit can also be damaged through respiration due to metabolic activities that cause heat and reduced water. This situation causes it to wither and wrinkle. To overcome this problem, a technology for the use of nanotechnology in the form of Titanium dioxide (TiO2) was designed with the help of UV rays. On the other hand, to increase the photocatalyst activity of TiO2, you can add silica (SiO2). As for the benefits of this research, it is hoped that it can be used as an alternative technology for the preservation of vegetables and fruit based on nanotechnology so that these vegetables and fruits can be used for a relatively long time. The methods used in this research were catalyst preparation, catalyst coating and testing. The research parameters included physical observation, weight loss, and fruit and vegetable moisture test. The results showed that the results of the use of photocatalyst-based fruit preservation technology were able to maintain the quality of tomatoes, eggplant, guava, and star fruit but did not maintain the quality of citrus fruits.