Abstract
Pectin is a polysaccharide that is widely used as a food additive in food industries. Banana peels that are discarded by vendors after processing bananas for food products contain a high level of pectin. The pectin can be extracted from the plant cell walls whereas the conventional method for extraction would normally take some time to get a high yield. This research was conducted to explore the effects of microwave-assisted extraction (MAE) and ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) on the extraction of pectin and its chemical characteristics found in banana peels. For MAE, the effects of microwave power and extraction time on the yield and quality of extracted pectin was studied. It was found that the pectin yield and chemical characteristics increased with the increase of microwave power and extraction time. The percentage yield ranged from 20.93% to 22.91% for microwave power of 300 W for 5-15 mins. The moisture, ash, degree of esterification, methoxyl, and galacturonic content of extracted pectin by MAE had 8.98%, 5.40%, 75.50%, 12.00%, and 57.80%, respectively. For UAE, the effects of temperature and sonication time on the pectin yield and quality of the extracted pectin were also studied. The pectin yields ranged from 1.81% to 3.49% and the moisture, ash, degree of esterification, methoxyl, and galacturonic content of extracted pectin by UAE had 8.00%, 3.39%, 88.83%, 14.50%, and 90.07%, respectively. Although the use of MAE promoted a high pectin yield it had a lower purity level when compared to UAE. Besides, the chemical characteristics of the extracted pectin by UAE is more comparable with commercial citrus pectin than the pectin extracted by MAE.
Highlights
At present, many countries have been concerned about the food waste problem
The pectin yield values increased with the increase of microwave power and extraction period, and the increased yield was sharply found at microwave power of 300 W
When the extraction time increased to 15 mins at the same microwave power (300 W) there was no significant difference in the extraction yield (Table 1)
Summary
Many countries have been concerned about the food waste problem. The large amounts of organic waste are produced by food waste. Banana peels are usually discarded by vendors after processing bananas for food products. The burden of banana peel waste is continuing to increase and challenging for by-product waste management. Waste processing of banana peels may have some economic advantages not to mention a decrease in environmental pollution. One of the options of processing banana peels could be used in pectin production due to its various use as a thickener, stabiliser, and gelling agents in food products such as jams and jellies, fruit juice, yogurt, and confectionery (Kratchanova et al, 2004; Happi Emaga, Robert, Ronkart et al, 2008). Other use of pectin can be found in cosmetic and pharmaceutical products (Rolin, 1993)
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