Enzyme optimization to reduce the viscosity of pitanga (Eugenia uniflora L.) juice

Abstract

The aim of this work was to separately evaluate the effects of pectinase and cellulase on the viscosity of pitanga juice, and determine the optimum conditions for their use employing response surface methodology. The independent variables were pectinase concentration (0-2.0 mg.g-1) and cellulase concentration (0-1.0 mg.g-1), activity time (10-110 min) and incubation temperature (23.2-56.8 °C). The use of pectinase and cellulase reduced the viscosity by about 15% and 25%, respectively. The results showed that enzyme concentration was the most important factor followed by activity time, and for the application of cellulase the incubation temperature had a significant effect too. The regression models showed correlation coefficients (R2) near to 0.90. The pectinase application conditions that led to the lowest viscosity were: concentration of 1.7 mg.g-1, incubation temperature of 37.6 °C and incubation time of 80 minutes, while for cellulase the values were: concentration of 1.0 mg.g-1, temperature range of 25 °C to 35 °C and incubation time of 110 minutes.