Obtención de cristales de inulina a partir de cuatro variedades de plantas de cultivo no tradicional del Ecuador

Abstract

Inulin from jicama roots and cabuya meristem was obtained using diffusion water process. The steps to obtain inulin were: raw material selection, determination of extraction conditions, purification, concentration, crystallization and dry. The soluble fructans content was of 14 and 37,5 % from jicama and cabuya, respectively. Two experimental designs were used to determine the best conditions of extraction. The first was a random design for the agitation (0, 130 and 300 rpm), and a factorial design 32 for the temperature (40, 60 and 80 °C) and the solid-liquid ratio (1:2, 1:3 and 1:5). The results show that the best conditions to extract fructans from jicama were 130 rpm, 75 °C, 1:5 S-L and 25 min; and the best conditions to cabuya were 80 °C, 300 rpm, 1:5 S-L and 100 min. The characterization of inulin shows a mixture of fructans (GPP between 6 and 33) units. The PMM of jicama and cabuya was of 2 757 and 2 171 g/mol, respectively. Finally, both extracts were identified as inulin comparing the IR specters with inulin commercial standards. Through MO and DSC the phase crystalline was verified.