PECTIN FROM CITRUS FRUITS

Pectin (derived from Greek meaning – “congealed, and curdled”) is a structural heteropolysaccharide contained in the primary cell walls of terrestrial plants. It was first isolated and described in 1825 by Heneri Bracannot. Pectin, a multifunctional constituent of cell wall is a high value functional food ingredient widely used as gelling agent and as stabilizer. It is produced commercially in form of white to light brown powder, mainly extracted from citrus fruits, and is used in food as a gelling agent particularly in jams and jellies. It is also used in fillings, sweets, as a stabilizer in fruit juices and milk drinks and as a source of dietary fiber. In plant cells, pectin consists of a complex set of polysaccharides that are present in most primary cell walls and particularly abundant in the non-woody parts of nearly all terrestrial plants. Pectin is present not only in the primary cell walls but also in the middle lamella between plant cells where it helps to bind the cells together. The amount, structure and chemical composition of the pectin differs between plants, within a plant over time and in different parts of a single plant. During ripening, pectin is broken down by the enzymes pectinase and pectin esterase, resulting in the process where the fruit becomes softer. This is because the middle lamella which primarily consists of pectin breaks down and cells become separated from each other. A similar process of cell separation caused by pectin breakdown occurs in the abscission zone of the petioles of deciduous plants at the time of leaf fall2.

Pectin is thus also a natural part of human diet, but does not contribute significantly to nutrition. As the literature reports, the daily intake of pectin from fruit and vegetables can be estimated to be around 5 g (where the consumption of approximately 500 g fruit and vegetable per day is estimated)3. In human digestion, pectin goes through the small intestine more or less intact but is acted upon by microbial growth of large intestine. Pectin thus acts as a soluble dietary fibre1. Consumption of pectin has been shown to reduce blood cholesterol levels. The mechanism appears to be an increase of viscosity in the intestinal tract, leading to a reduced absorption of cholesterol from bile or food3. In the large intestine and colon, microorganisms degrade pectin and liberate shortchain fatty acids that have favorable influence on health (also known as prebiotic effect).

Chemistry

In terms of structure, pectin is an essentially linear polysaccharide. Like most other plant polysaccharides, it is both polydisperse and polymolecular and its composition varies with the source and the conditions applied during isolation. In
any sample of pectin, parameters such as the molecular weight or the contents of particular subunits differ even from molecule to molecule. The composition and structure of pectin are still not completely understood although pectin was discovered over 200 years ago. Through various studies it has been brought in notice that the structure of pectin is difficult to determine because pectin subunit composition can change during isolation from plants, storage, and processing of plant material. At present, pectin is thought to consist mainly of Dgalacturonic acid (GalA) units, joined in chains by means of α-(1-4) glycosidic linkage. These uronic acids have carboxyl groups, which are naturally present as methyl esters and others which are commercially treated with ammonia to produce carboxamide groups (Figure 1). Units range in number from a few hundred to about thousand saccharides in a chain-like configuration which corresponds to average molecular weights from about fifty thousand to one lack fifty thousand Dalton. As the literature reports, into pectin backbone (made up of glycosides), galacturonic acid is replaced by (1-2)-linked L-rhamnose, at some distinguishing areas. From the rhamnose residues, side chains of various neutral sugars have been discovered to branch off. This type of pectin is termed as rhamnogalacturonan . Here, up to every twenty fifth galacturonic acid in the main chain is replaced with rhamnose. The neutral sugars found in a pectin molecule are mainly D-galactose, L-arabinose and D-xylose, whose types and proportions vary with the origin of pectin.

The X-ray fibre diffraction studies have reported that the galacturonan segments in the molecule of sodium pectate form helixes with three subunits per turn. The conformation of Galacturonic acid units as determined by NMR spectroscopy and referred from literatures is 4C19. Calculations indicate that the helix is probably right-handed. It was indicated that X-ray fibre diffraction patterns of sodium and calcium pectates, pectic acids, and pectinic acids show the same helix structure, but the ways in which these helixes were arranged relative to each other in the crystals differ to various degrees. It has been suggested that helical pectinic acid molecules pack in a parallel arrangement, whereas the pectates pack as corrugated sheets of antiparallel helixes.

INTRODUCTION
APPLICATIONS OF PECTIN
PECTIN IN FOOD APPLICATIONS
MARKET POSITION
DETAILED IMPORT DATA OF PECTIN
SUPPLIERS OF MANUFACTURER/SUPPLIERS OF PECTIN
PROCESS OF MANUFACTURE FROM JUICE
PROCESS FLOW CHART
MANUFACTURING PROCESS FROM ORANGE PEEL
CONTINUOUS PROCESS
COMPLETE PLANT SUPPLIERS
MANUFACTURERS/SUPPLIERS OF PLANT & MACHINERY
SUPPLIERS OF RAW MATERIALS

APPENDIX – A:

1.      COST OF PLANT ECONOMICS
2.      LAND & BUILDING
3.      PLANT AND MACHINERY
4.      FIXED CAPITAL INVESTMENT
5.      RAW MATERIAL
6.      SALARY AND WAGES
7.      UTILITIES AND OVERHEADS
8.      TOTAL WORKING CAPITAL
9.      COST OF PRODUCTION
10.      PROFITABILITY ANALYSIS
11.      BREAK EVEN POINT
12.      RESOURCES OF FINANCE
13.      INTEREST CHART
14.      DEPRECIATION CHART
15.      CASH FLOW STATEMENT
16.      PROJECTED BALANCE SHEET