Comparative Physicochemical Properties of Isolated Pectin from Various Tropical Fruit Peel Wastes

Abstract

Pectin is widely used as the main polymer in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, and biomedical applications. The pectin utilization in diverse fields can contribute to fruit waste processing since waste such as fruit peel serves as a pectin source. This study is aimed to analyze the extraction temperature effect on the physicochemical properties of extracted pectin from various tropical fruit peel waste. In this study, we determined the extracted pectin’s physicochemical properties from peel wastes of tropical fruits like papaya, lime, lemon, and dragon fruit using 3% citric acid at 65 and 90°C. A higher pectin yield resulted from a higher extraction temperature of 90oC (8.78 to 27.03 %) than that obtained at 65oC (5.78 to 17.71 %). The spectra of Fourier transform infrared (FT-IR) mainly showed the degradation of pectin, specifically in the cases of papaya, lime, and lemon, indicated by the higher OH peak intensity. All samples extracted were high methoxyl pectin (HM), with degrees of esterification (DE) ranging from 56.98 to 89.63%. Among the fruit peels studied, only the lemon peel pectin extracted at 90°C, with anhydrouronic acid (AUA) content of 77.35%, meets the criteria for food additives and pharmaceutical purposes.