Characterization of Glucomannan and Ca-Oxalate from Porang Flour (<i>Amorphophallus muelleri </i>Blume) as Candidates for Hydrogel Materials

Abstract

Porang (Amorphophallus muelleri Blume), a plant belonging to the Araceae family, has the main content of glucomannan and calcium oxalate which is quite high. This study aims to determine the characteristic values ​​of glucomannan and calcium oxalate content from porang flour so that it can be used for various applications, especially hydrogel. The characteristics of glucomannan obtained from porang flour will be compared with commercial glucomannan from konjac using 3,5-DNS analysis, permanganate titration method, Fourier Transforms Infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Scanning Electron Microscopy (SEM). The results showed that the glucomannan content of porang flour was 99.84% dry basic (db) and the calcium oxalate content of porang flour was 0.005% wet basic (wb). The characterization results show that the glucomannan content in porang flour is higher than the commercial glucomannan content from konjac, so that porang flour has good potential as a candidate for hydrogel materials.