Physicochemical properties of carrageenan originated from Lermatang Village, Southwest Maluku District

Abstract

Abstract Lermatang Village is situated at Southwest Maluku Regency and is known as a producer of seaweed. Generally, the seaweed produced in this village belongs to Eucheuma cottonii, which is a source of carrageenan and has high economic value. Carrageenan is known as raw material for the pharmaceutical, cosmetic, food and other industries, as gelling agents, material binders, emulsifiers, and stabilizers. The most common problem faced by the seaweed grower was they haven’t been able in optimizing the processing technologies yet. The seaweed farmer is still selling the seaweeds in form of dry seaweed without further processing and this cause a low price. The aim of this research was to study the physicochemical properties of carrageenan of Eucheuma cottonii originated from Lermatang Village fo Southwest Maluku Regency. Seaweed was extracted by using sodium hydroxide then physicochemical properties of carrageenan were observed. The results showed that physicochemical properties of carrageenan were indicated by yield 34.50 – 44.25 g, gel strength 500 - 850 g/cm2, viscosity 35.2- 40.89 cP, water content 14.32-25.73%, ash content 21.34-22.62% and sulphate content 14.85-16.50%.