CHARACTERIZATION AND PROCESS OPTIMIZATION OF ULTRASOUND EXTRACTED POLYSACCHARIDES FROM THE “OPUNTIA FICUS INDICA" CLADODES

Abstract

Opuntia Ficus Indica (OFI) cladodes are rich in pectin rich polysaccharides can be used nutraceutical,medical and pharmaceutical purposes as a cheap source of raw material. In this study characterizationand Response Surface Methodology (RSM) of ultrasonic assisted extraction (UAE) of water-solublecrude polysaccharides (CPS) of OFI cladodes were studied using Box-Behnken Design (BBD). Effectof power intensity, set temperature and processing time investigated, Optimal conditions for yieldmaximization is found as 345.5 W, 304.5 K and 28.5 min. respectively with the predicted yield as18.58% dry base polysaccharide extract and this value was validated by experiments at optimalcondition having the value as 18.48±0.35%. General composition of the extracts at the optimalcondition was 7.5±2.22% moisture content, 14.4±0.87 ash, 0.18±0.05 protein, 82.12±7.2% total sugarcontent (SC) in glucose, 72.75±6.8% SC in galacturonic acid in dry basis. Degree of esterification wasfound 40.57±3.11% proving that extracted polysaccharides was low-methoxy (LM) pectin-basedmaterial which can be used a good alternative and cheap source for industrial LM pectin.Additionally, this study depicts the importance of the temperature control and temperature rise ofUAE systems since depending on power, time and temperature combination, temperature inside thereactor can be increased 7-11.8%.