Carrageenan extracted from eucheuma cottonii through variant of drying time

Abstract

Carrageenan is a derivative product of seaweed that used in various fields such as pharmacy, food and cosmetics. One of the most widely used carrageenan from seaweed was Eucheuma cottonii sp. The research was conduct to determine the effect of post-harvest seaweed pre-treatment on yields of Carrageenan. The first pre-treatment done by using the fresh seaweed that has been washed clean then directly dried. The second pre-treatment, washed seaweed soaked with clean water for seven days and then dried with a dryer. Drying time for the first and second pre-treatments is varied, then dried seaweed extracted with water to produce carrageenan. The analyses performed were moisture content of seaweed and yields of Carrageenan. The results of the research found that the initial moisture content of seaweed on the second pre-treatment was greater than the first pre-treatment. The variation of drying time on the first pre-treatment did not affect significantly on the yields, but in the second pre-treatment, yield of carageenan increased with accumulation drying time.