Utilization of Bitter orange seeds as a novel source for recovery of pectin: Compositional and rheological characterization

The seeds from bitter orange, a by-product from the juice making step, hold the potential to facilitate novel, easy yet high quality pectin extraction. To test this hypothesis, the pectin from orange seeds (OSP) were extracted by distilled water and its compositional parameters and rheological behavior then evaluated. Results showed that galacturonic acid was the major component of OSP (~ 425 mg/g) confirming the purity of extracted pectin, followed by glucose and some minor neutral sugars. M w , R n and, R z for the OSP were 4511.8 (kDa), 61 (nm), and 61.1 (nm), respectively. Rheological measurements showed shear-thinning behavior for OSP that by increasing temperature from 5 to 45 o C, the viscosity of the gum decreased. Power law fitted as the best rheological model describing the flow behavior of OSP. Strain sweep dynamic rheological measurements confirmed an entangled network structure for OSP and the addition of NaCl to the gum dispersion, decreased the consistency coefficient from 35.6 to 23.18 Pa.s n , while the flow behavior index remained unchanged. These results demonstrate for the first time that the OSP can be used as a new source of pectin, with likely a wide range of applications in food industry.