Influence of Salt Concentration on Alkaline Extracted Refined Kappa- carrageenan and Its Characterization

Kappaphycus alverazii remains as a predominant source of kappa-carrageenan which is farmed extensively in Indonesia, Philippines and South East Asia. The current research focuses on the influence of concentration of salts and approach to dialysis on properties of carrageenan. Carrageenan due to its pronounced gelling and viscosifying properties, has gained significant usage in the areas of food, cosmetics, textiles, pharmaceutics, biomedicine, and numerous others. The process of extraction was conducted in a hot, alkaline condition at 80 oC for a duration of 2 hours. The alkaline substance used was KCl with 2% and 4% concentration and solvent to seaweed ratio was 20:1.Further, the resultant extracted samples were subjected to dialysis to evaluate the effect of dialysis on the quality of carrageenan. The absorbance peak at 849 cm–1 from Fourier Transform Infrared-Spectroscopy (FTIR) at all extraction conditions indicated D-galactose-4 sulphate related to kappa carrageenan obtained with no traces of \(\mu\)-precursor. The study demonstrated that the concentration of salts and the approach of dialysis have influenced the quality of yield, viscosity, gel strength, moisture content and ash content for the extracted carrageenan, which remains ideal for commercial applications.