Purification Of Glucomannan By Enzymatic Hydrolysis Of Konjac (Amorphophallus Oncophyllus) Flour

Abstract

Glucomannan is typical polysaccharide derived from konjac tuber. Conventional fractionation of glucomannan in konjac flour is by mechanical separation method, but it produces low purity glucomannan flour and needs further purification methods. This research is explored the glucomannan purification by enzymatic hydrolysis directly from konjac flour. Since konjac flour mainly consisted of starch, glucomannan and fiber, in this research sole thermophilic α-amylase enzyme and consortium of enzymes (amylase, xylanase and cellulose) were applied on 50 and 65 oC of incubation temperature for 2 hours. The results showed that consortium of enzymes can not be used for glucomannan purification; because glucomannan component is hydrolyzed by xylanase and cellulose. Glucomannan flour produced from sole α-amylase with incubation temperature of 50ᵒC has the highest yield (42.7%) compared to incubation temperature of 65ᵒC (31.6%). Duration of incubation also influenced to the glucomannan yield, and two hours of incubation time gave the best glucomannan flour with highest yield (37.0%), purity (46.1%), viscosity (42.3 cPs) and good whiteness (12.7%). Enzymatic hydrolysis of konjac flour also produced starch syrup (DE 55.6 – 77.9) as by- products.