Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction Increases Pectin Yield From Watermelon (Citrullus Lanatus) Rind

Agriculture supply chain particularly fruit sector produces a lot of by product. This study is conducted to determine the percentage of pectin yield from watermelon (Citrullus lanatus) rind powder extracted using conventional method by Sulphuric acid and Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE). The pectin was extracted using UAE for 51 minutes and temperature of 67 °C. Meanwhile, acid extraction was conducted for 24 hours at room temperature (27 °C). Next, the degree of esterification (DE), equivalent weight, methoxyl content, anhydrouronic acid analysis, ash content and moisture content was conducted to compare the characteristic of pectin obtained from both methods. The highest pectin yield was obtained from UAE with 10.60% compared to acid extraction which is 9.87%. Moreover, there are significant differences between degree of esterification (DE), equivalent weight, methoxyl content, and ash content (P-value <; 0.05) was observed higher in UAE than acid extraction. While anhydrouronic acid analysis and moisture content is significantly lower in UAE compared to acid extraction. The findings indicated that UAE is successfully produced higher amount of pectin with good characteristic.