UNAIR NEWS – Five Faculty of Vocational Studies’ (FV) students of Universitas Airlangga (UNAIR) have created a natural hand sanitizer formula made from rice waste. Three students of Medical Laboratory Technology Three Year Vocational (D3) Program are Yasmin Auliya Hylmi (2019); Annisa Maulidya (2019); Ajeng Dilla Lestari (2019); Hilda Rachmania Panglipurning T. (2020); and Silvia Eka Kurniawati (2020).
“We have succeeded in creating a bioethanol formula from stale rice with the addition of basil leaf extract (Ocimum americanum L.) which has the potential to be a natural hand sanitizer innovation,” said Yasmin Auliya Hylmi as team leader to UNAIR News Saturday, November 21, 2020.
Yasmin said that the bioethanol formula contained in stale rice with the addition of basil leaf extract was effective in killing various microbes, bacteria, fungi including coronavirus.
He also explained that this formula has some advantages. First, it does not contain methanol, so it does not cause toxicity effects and the basic ingredients used are natural.
Not only that, the formula is also cheap as it is made from waste. However, Yasmin claims that the formula is efficient in use.
Finally, it does not only act as antibacterial but also as an antiviral and anti-fungal.
“We use graded distillation and fermentation methods to get bioethanol content from rice waste. The dose is following the effective level of hand sanitizer, which is around 60 to 80 percent, ”he explained.
IMAGE of the hand sanitizer product made from rice waste initiated by five students of three year vocational (D3) Media Laboratory Engineering (TLM) program, Faculty of Vocational Studies (FV) Universitas Airlangga. (Photo: By courtesy)
Meanwhile, the extraction of basil leaves was done using maceration method. A solvent with a certain degree of polarity is used to obtain the desired extract. Yasmin said the finalization of the phytochemical test had also been carried out.
Yasmin said the idea of utilizing rice waste arose because a lot of rice is wasted from food stalls. Furthermore, hand washing facilities in pandemic era are still limited. “We are trying to address several of these issues to get an effective solution,” he said.
The idea was submitted in 2020 Indonesian Vocational Olympiad (OLIVIA). After going through quite a tough competition, Yasmin and her team managed to win in scientific writing competition, especially Bioeconomics Innovation Science Sub-Category. It was announced on the official website of OLIVIA Institut Teknologi Sepuluh Nopember (ITS) on Tuesday, October 27, 2020.
At first, Yasmin and the team lacked confidence. Moreover, they also faced tough opponents from various universities in Indonesia, including ITS, IPB, and UGM.
“The theme this time is Creating Innovation and Competence in The New Normal Era, which indirectly focuses on technological innovation. For those of us who come from a health background, it requires quite a struggle,” he said.
Yasmin hoped that the knowledge and experience they get could make the program and university proud. “Hopefully this achievement will not be the endpoint of our struggles,” he concluded. (*)
Author: Erika Eight Novanty
Editor: Binti Q. Masruroh
