Conclusion
This research emphasized on pectin extraction and characterizations from Kaffir lime peel. The peels were subjected to pre-treatment with ethanol for 30 minutes before
subjected to two different drying methods namely sun drying and microwave drying. In general, the research had been divided into three parts namely extraction of pectin using changing extraction condition, purification via alcoholprecipitation procedure (APP) and characterization of pectin. Based on the extraction of pectin using changing conditions, pH and extraction period was kept constant at 1.5 and 1 hour respectively. The changing conditions were different drying method for peels, different extracting temperature and different extracting solvent. The study was conducted to identify if Kaffir lime peel had the potential to yield pectin. The results indicated that different: pretreatment of drying, extracting temperature and extractants affect the extraction yield. The best condition were using microwave dried peels, extracting temperature at 90°C and using citric acid as the extracting solvent. This gave a yield of 61.80%. Purification using APP was sufficient to yield
pectin of high purity. This was confirmed when the pectin’s physicochemical properties (moisture, % AUA, degree of esterification, colour methoxyl content and equivalent weight) were analysed. The AUA % was mostly above 65% which
indicates that the pectin is pure.Also, the pectin isolated from Kaffir lime peels can be classified as low methoxyl pectin as it demonstrated low degree of esterification and methoxyl content.