Lemon Juice/Lemon oil/Pectin Plant

Lemon Juice/Lemon oil/Pectin Plant
Pectin has wide applications in a variety of food formulations as jellying and thickening agent. Since it sets into Jelly in sugar-acid solution, it is regularly used in the preparation of jams, jellies and marmalades. In addition to this pectin have many other uses in food and pharmaceutical industries. Pectin is also being recommended for use as fat replacer. On account of its ever-increasing use and demand pectin has become an indispensable ingredient in food industry.

In industrialized countries, citrus waste and apple pomace are the main sources of pectin. Indigenous production of high grade

PROCESS

• Preparation of raw material
• Extraction of pectin in a suitable medium.
• Separation of pectin from the medium with a suitable solvent.
• Drying and powdering of pectin.
• Packaging.

The yield of pectin is about 15% on dry weight basis of peel. The grade of the pectin thus prepared is >/ 200. Elemental analysis of pectin conforms to PFA standards. The solvent used in the process is recovered to an extent of 90% and can be reused. An advantage of the method is the reduction in the bulk of extract in the initial stage making handling easier. It also favors usage of lesser quantities of solvent per cycle for pectin precipitation. This will have a bearing on the unit cost of production. Remainder of peel can be used as cattle feed