PEER-REVIEWED ARTICLE bioresources.com Hermawan et al. (2019). “Seaweed-MCC films,” BioResources 14(2), 3389-3410. 3389 Development of Seaweed-based Bamboo Microcrystalline Cellulose Films Intended for Sustainable Food Packaging Applications D. Hermawan, a Tze Kiat Lai, b Shima Jafarzadeh, c Deepu A. Gopakumar, b Hasan. M., d F. A. T. Owolabi, b N. A. Sri Aprilia, e Samsul Rizal, f and H. P. S. Abdul Khalil b * Seaweed bio-composite films with different proportion of Lemang and Semantan bamboo microcrystalline cellulose (MCC) were fabricated via solvent casting. The seaweed/MCC composite films were flexible, transparent, and slightly yellow. The MCC particles further enhanced mechanical properties and opacity of films. The thermal stability of seaweed films was moderately improved upon addition of bamboo MCC particles. Bamboo MCC was found to be comparable to commercial MCC in reducing the water vapor permeability (WVP), water solubility (WS), and moisture absorption capacity (MSC) of seaweed films. The tensile strength (TS) of seaweed films was increased by 20 to 23% with addition of up to 5% MCC particles. In addition, bamboo MCC efficiently reduced the WVP of seaweed films comparable to commercial MCC particles. The WS of seaweed films was decreased by 10 to 19% with addition of 1% MCC particles loading. Lemang bamboo MCC (SB-MCC) was remarkably reduced the moisture absorption capacity (MAC) of films up to 25% with inclusion of only 1% MCC. Morphological analysis via Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM) confirmed that there was homogeneous dispersion of MCC particles in the films. MCC particles improved the mechanical, thermal, and optical properties of seaweed films making them more suitable for food packaging applications. Keywords: Edible seaweed; Bamboo; Microcrystalline cellulose; Thermal stability; Food packaging Contact information: a: Department of Forest Product, Faculty of Forestry, Kampus IPB, Darmaga, Bogor Agricultural University, Bogor 16001, West Java, Indonesia; b: School of Industrial Technology, Universiti Sains Malaysia, 11800 Penang, Malaysia; c: Food Biopolymer Research Group, Food Technology Division, School of Industrial Technology, University Sains Malaysia, 11800, Penang, Malaysia; d: Chemical Education Department, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Jln. Tgk. Daud Beureueh Darussalam Banda Aceh, 23311 Indonesia; e: Chemical Engineering Department, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Darussalam, 23111 Banda Aceh, Indonesia; f: Mechanical Engineering Department, Universitas Syiah Kuala, Darussalam, Banda Aceh, Indonesia; *Corresponding author: akhalilhps@gmail.com INTRODUCTION With respect to severe ecological adverse impacts and particularly environmental pollution, it seems vitally important to replace regular petrochemical-plastics with the latest effective, eco-friendly, and biodegradable materials. There has been increasing attention to preparing bio-based products and creative processing technologies that contribute to sustainability and decrease fossil fuel use. Recently biopolymers have gained considerable attention due to their bio-degradable and eco-friendly nature. Nowadays, both polyesters and polysaccharides are the main sources of gaining the regular biodegradable polymers (Jafarzadeh et al. 2017).