Proceeding - ICB Pharma II “Current Breakthrough in Pharmacy Materials and Analyses” ISSN : 9-772476-969006 1 | Page OP A001 PHARMACEUTICAL TECHNOLOGY Characteristics Testing of Microcrystalline Cellulose from Nata de Coco Compared to Avicel pH 101 and Avicel pH 102 Adi Yugatama 1 *, Laksmi Maharani 2 , Hening Pratiwi 2 , Lingga Ikaditya 3 1 Farmasi, FMIPA, Universitas Sebelas Maret, Surakarta 2 Farmasi, FIKES, Universitas Jenderal Soedirman, Purwokerto 3 Farmasi, Poltekkes Kemenkes Tasikmalaya, Tasikmalaya *E-mail: adiyugatama.apt@gmail.com Abstract—Microcrystalline cellulose is an imported raw material in Indonesia, which used widely as an excipient in tablet production. One of the alternative materials to produce microcrystalline cellulose is from nata de coco. This research aimed to know the characteristic of microcrystalline cellulose from nata de coco compared to avicel pH 101 and avicel pH 102. Nata de coco were alkalinated, dried and hydrolyzed to get microcrystalline cellulose. Independent variables in this research are microcrystalline cellulose from nata de coco, avicel pH 101 and avicel pH 102. While the dependent variables are flow properties, compactibility, compressibility, water absorption, tap density, bulk density, loss of drying, infrared absorption spectra, and SEM images. Data analyzed using one way ANAVA with CI 95% and using software SPSS for windows. The result showed that data from characteristic test microcrystalline cellulose from nata de coco is different in flow properties, compactibility, compressibility, tap density, bulk density, and loss of drying from avicel pH 101 and avicel pH 102, but having the same water absorption. Infrared spectrum data showed that microcrystalline cellulose from nata de coco is similar to avicel pH 101 and avicel pH 102. The SEM result showed that microcrystalline cellulose from nata de coco having bigger particle size (66.67– 266.67 μm) than avicel pH 101 (13.33–166.67 μm) and avicel pH 102 (13.33–200 μm). Keywords: Avicel pH 101; Avicel pH 102; Nata de coco I. INTRODUCTION Indonesia is one of the countries with high biodiversity. But until today, 96% of medicines raw materials were imported from other countries 1 . One of the imported raw materials used widely as excipient (filler-binder) in tablet production is microcrystalline cellulose. In tablet production, microcrystalline cellulose is the first choice for excipient because having good compactibility and rapid disintegration time. Nevertheless, the pricing of good characteristic raw materials are so high, and limit its application in small and medium industries. It’s making the growth of Indonesian pharmaceutical industry is low. Microcrystalline cellulose is a modification of natural cellulose that can be obtained from various sources both from plant and fermentation products. One of the alternatives is producing microcrystalline cellulose from nata de coco 2 . Nata de coco is the product of coconut water fermented by Acetobacter xylinum. The main content of nata de coco is cellulose 3 . Microcrystalline cellulose from nata de coco need to be test its characteristics compared to standard microcrystalline cellulose used as tablet excipient, avicel pH 101 and avicel pH 102. The basic testing are flow properties, water absorption, compactibility, compressibility, loss of drying, tap density, bulk density, and infrared spectrum. This research result expected being a basic for further research, either formula optimization or process. Additionally, microcrystalline cellulose from nata de coco expected to be used directly as excipient in pharmaceutical industry; especially tablet production so could minimize the production costs through reduction of imported raw materials in production process. II. MATERIALS AND METHODS A. Materials Materials used are nata de coco, avicel pH 101, avicel pH 102, NaOH, HCl, and aquadest. Equipments used are powder grinding machine,