Synthesis, Parametric Optimization and Characterization of Gum Arabic Powder
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Date
2023-10
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
Gum Arabic, or acacia gum, is the resin exuded by Acacia Senegal trees. It also has several
industrial applications. But these, natural gum Arabic exudates are contaminated by sand, dirt,
insects, pieces of bark and leaves, bacteria and so forth. This condition makes the gum exudes to
be unsuitable for the immediate use. Therefore, finding the purification process of gum Arabic is
the first and the most important step. This mechanism improves the quality of the product and
makes direct immediate use of acacia gum in the industry. The core objective of this research
work was to produce purified, dried, instant gum Arabic powder and develop optimization of the
freeze drying operating conditions. Finally characterization of the powder was carried out and
yield was determined. To conduct this study, impurities of gum exudates were removed by three
major separation processes. This is carried out by dry cleaning, aqueous solution cleaning and
freeze drying process respectively. In this study, different concentrations of dissolved gum
Arabic solution and drying temperature of 25%w/v to 33.33%w/v and -50°C to -30°C as
maximum and minimum values were used respectively. Optimization for these drying
parameters was carried out by the central composite design, using the Response Surface
Methodology (Design experiment software version 11). During the experiment, it was observed
that the acacia gum yield at different runs ranged from 96.35g to 214.1g and the moisture content
ranged from 6.07% to 13.9%. An optimum acacia gum yield of 136.12g and minimum moisture
content 10.16% were observed at -31.8°C temperature and 33.33% (w/v) feed solution
concentration. The two main factors considered for this research study, namely feedstock
concentration and drying temperature had a statistically significant effect (p<0.05) on both
responses named the powder yield and moisture content. After the synthesis, the product (acacia
gum powder) was characterized using FTIR spectroscopy, NMR Spectroscopy, TGA Analysis
and DSC Thermogravimetric Analysis.
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Keywords
Gum Arabic powder, Freeze drying, Moisture content, Yield, Separation process, Response surface methodology, Central Composite Design, Optimization