Extraction and partial characterization of durian rind pectin

Abstract

Durian which is famous for its plentiful nutrition, is a delicious fruit from Southeast Asia with rising popularity worldwide. Since durian rinds are often thrown away as waste, it would be beneficial to transform it into value-added product like pectin. In general, pectin is a complex carbohydrate molecule which broadly applied in food industries such as stabilizer, texturizer, emulsifier, thickeners, gelling agent and many others. The purpose of this research is to determine pectin content in durian rinds using conventional acid extraction and to characterize the properties of pectin in terms of yield, water activity, moisture content and ash content. Pectin was extracted using hydrochloric acid at pH 2.5, 85°C for 60 minutes. The statistical analyses were conducted by using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and data obtained were reported in mean and standard deviation. The results indicated that durian rinds pectin yield is 73.67%, 11.53% moisture content, 4.67% ash content, and 0.452 water activity. The overall study highlighted that durian rinds are rich source of pectin and it is likely to become a significant raw material for food industries. The results of this research show successful pectin extraction, acquiring potential advantages for industrial pectin extraction economically and environmentally.