Comparison of different ultrasound assisted extraction techniques for pectin from tomato processing waste

Concept of waste to wealth is a hot topic with research ongoing globally to reduce carbon footprint. In an effort to follow up this cause present study focused on tomato industry waste specifically the peel of tomatoes for extraction of pectin. Pectin extraction was performed using five different extraction techniques (Ultrasound assisted extraction (UAE); microwave assisted extraction (MAE); ohmic heating assisted extraction (O_HAE); ultrasound assisted microwave extraction (UAME) and ultrasound assisted ohmic heating extraction (UAO_HE) at different power levels to study its extraction and degradation kinetics and in turn to optimize the extraction process. The extracted pectin yield ranged from 9.30% for O_HAE to 25.42% for MAE. Also, there was very less difference in the yield of MAE and UAME extracted pectin, but at the cost of major difference in degree of esterification 59.76 ± 0.70 and 73.33 ± 1.76%, respectively. In addition, all the pectin extracted under optimized conditions was having acceptable purity, [Galacturonic acid (GalA) content ranged from 675.8 ± 11.31 to 913.3 ± 20.50 g/kg of pectin]. FTIR analysis confirmed the presence of functional groups in the finger print region of identification for polysaccharide in all the extracted pectin. According to obtained results, UAME can be considered as better green extraction technology in terms of extraction yield as well as in quality of pectin compared to the other treatments used. Therefore, results suggest that UAME can be used as an efficient pectin extraction method from tomato processing waste.