Rambutan peel is agricultural waste which is not useful. The ojective of the study was to study
the effect of rambutan tannin extract on properties of polylactic acid (PLA) film for using as
biopolymer dye. The optimum extraction condition was extracting rambutan peel with water at a ratio
of 1:10 (w/v) at 90 oC for 3 hr. The extract yield was 17.85±1.45% (w/v) and the total tannin content
was 25.36±1.10% (w/w). The type of tannin in the extracts was studied by colorimetric method
compared with the tannin as standard agent. The results showed the extracted tannin were the
condense tannin which were dominant pigment in the rambutan peel. Effect of PLA/rambutan tannin
blends on mechanical properties was studied. The addition of rambutan tannin in PLA film is the
tensile strength and %elongation decreased. Furthermore, application and improvement of
PLA/rambutan peel film should be investigated.
Key Words: rambutan peels, tannin, biopolymer dye