A mini-review of bio-scrubber derived from bacterial cellulose impregnated by flavonoid of moringa leaves

Abstract Scrubber is widely used in various products, such as cosmetics, facial cleansers, and soaps. The use of scrubber releasing 209.7 trillion microplastics would harm the environment due to lack of process in treatment facilities. Efforts to substitute plastic-based scrubbers with more environmentally friendly materials need to be made. In previous studies, substitution scrubber with grape seeds has been done but has a low viscosity. This problem may be solved by using bacterial cellulose (BC) in the manufacture of bio-scrubbers. Several methods are currently being investigated to produce bacterial cellulose microparticles, such as mechanical methods using high-pressure homogenizer (HPH), acid hydrolysis, microbial hydrolysis, hydrogel fiber cultivation, microfluidic process, and ultrasonication. This review recommends the manufacture of bacterial cellulose microparticles by ultrasonication method. The recommendation is based on the literature study that has been carried out. The ultrasonication method has more advantages than other methods. It does not use solvents that pollute the environment and increasing the number of bacterial cellulose microparticles. The synthesis of bio-scrubber from bacterial cellulose ends with the drying process of bacterial cellulose microparticles. This review recommends the ambient pressure drying method. The ambient pressure drying method can produce bio-scrubber with high crystallinity, high mechanical properties, and transparency.