Study of glucomannan extraction with hydrochloric acid catalyst and alcohol solvent based on porang tuber flour (Amorphophallus oncophyllus)

Abstract

Amorphophallus oncophyllus or commonly known as porang is a group of Aracea tubers. Porang has a high economic value and prebiotic source of oligosaccharides because it contains glucomannan. Porang flour contains about 67.5% glucomannan. Glucomannan is used as an emulsifier and stabilizer in the food, beverage and cosmetics products industry and as an ingredient for supplements and food additives because of its high fibres content. In this study, glucomannan purification can be optimized by using chemicals with modified maceration techniques with a stirring and washing machine using ethanol and glucomannan analysis using phenol sulphuric acid test in order to determine the decrease in sugar in porang flour. The purpose of this study was to determine the highest glucomannan content from several parameters such as the concentration of hydrochloric acid catalyst, stirring time, temperature, and the ratio of samples to solvents. The optimum conditions for the extraction process were at 0.7 M hydrochloric acid catalyst concentration, stirring time for 1 hour, temperature at 70°C and the ratio of samples to solvents was 1:5. Therefore, the optimum glucomannan content obtained from extraction using hydrochloric acid catalyst reached 95.85%.