PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND ANTIOXIDANT ACTIVITIES OF BANANA PEELS PECTIN EXTRACTED WITH MICROWAVE-ASSISTED EXTRACTION

Abstract

Pectin production from banana peels was carried out in microwave-assisted extraction (MAE). The main purpose of this study is to determine the extraction conditions with the best physicochemical characteristics and highest antioxidant activity (AA). The pectin was isolated using the MAE method with two different solvents (citric acid and tartaric acid) at 420 and 613 W for 5 and 10 min. In this study, using MAE with tartaric acid as a solvent strongly improves the yield and AA of banana peel pectin (BPP) compared to those of BPP extracted by citric acid. BPP extracted with MAE and tartaric acid at 420 W for 10 min had the highest yield (15.23±0.52%), while the best AA was obtained at 420 W for 5 min (free radical scavenging activity of 37.17±0.7%). The chemical properties of BPP including equivalent weight, degree of esterification, methoxyl content and total anhydroronic acid, depended on the extraction conditions and BPP could be classified as a low-methoxyl pectin (LMP). The present study also proved that BPP was an ideal alternative source of commercial pectin with the high purity.