Process optimization of extraction and separation of water-soluble crude polysaccharide in sweet corn cob

Abstract

Polysaccharides in sweet corn cob may have many bioactivities. In this study, an efficient ultrasoundassisted extraction (UAE) technique has been developed to recover crude polysaccharides from sweet corn cob (SCCP). Ultrasound power was determined at 250 W based on the single factor test, extraction temperature (40 - 60°C), duration (30 - 60 min) and ratio of volume to weight (20 - 40 mL·g-1) were then chosen to further optimize extraction conditions by response surface methodology (RSM). The statistical analysis revealed that the optimal conditions to obtain the highest yield of SCCP were of 54.7°C, 42.8 min and 27.9 mL·g-1, and the polysaccharide extraction yield (0.56%) obtained from optimized UAE proved its higher efficiency when compared with the conventional method. Also, the results showed that the extraction of polysaccharides followed first-order kinetics model well. © 2012 Food Sci. Technol. Res.