Pectin recovery from sugar beet pulp enhanced by high-voltage electrical discharges

- HVED pre-treatment intensifies pectin recovery from sugar beet pulp.
- HVED pre-treatment does not modify pectin structure and chemical composition.
- Energy consumption and diffusion coefficients were calculated.

This work discusses the valorization of sugar beet pulp (SBP) for pectin extraction using high-voltage electrical discharges (HVED) as a pre-treatment technology. The parameters of HVED (pulse amplitude U and number of pulses n) were varied. Better pre-treatment conditions were U = 40 kV and n = 100 giving a total energy consumption Qe = 76.2 kJ/kg. After the HVED pre-treatment, a subsequent acidified water extraction of pectin was carried out varying the pH and temperature. Obtained results show the pectin yield increase from 42.6% for untreated SBP to 53.4% for HVED treated SBP at better extraction conditions (T = 90 °C, pH = 2) and duration of one hour. Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy and gas chromatography mass spectrometry (GC-MS) techniques were used to characterize the pectin extracts. They showed similar functional groups and chemical composition between the standard of sugar beet pectin and the extracted molecules from untreated and HVED pretreated SBP.

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