Valorization of Pineapple Waste for Extraction and Purification of Bromelain Enzyme

Abstract

Bromelain is a potential proteolytic enzyme present in various parts of pineapple, having industrial importance with a wide range of applications. Present study focused on extraction, isolation, and purification of bromelain from pineapple peels waste as a feedstock. The proximate analysis of pineapple peel waste depicts the presence of about 7% protein in pineapple peel waste. Thus, several commercially available buffers were explored for the extraction of bromelain from pineapple peel. Of the tested buffers, sodium phosphate buffer showed the highest bromelain activity (0.75 CDU/mL) and protein concentration (0.160 mg/mL). The process intensification study is conducted to achieve maximum bromelain activity and maximum protein concentration. The optimized process provided maximum bromelain activity as 1.24 CDU/mL and maximum protein concentration of 0.130 mg/mL. The combination of ultrafiltration and adsorptive chromatographic purification was used to concentrate bromelain and to remove color components, respectively. It provides an increase in bromelain activity by 2.24-fold and protein concentration by 1.37 folds. Thus, the present study provides an efficient strategy for valorization of pineapple peel waste through extraction and purification of bromelain as a potential product.