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Use of Opuntia ficus-indica Fruit Peel as a Novel Source of Mucilage with Coagulant Physicochemical/Molecular Characteristics

The peels obtained as a byproduct from the processing of fruits (prickly pears) of the Cactaceae family are a rich source of mucilage, a hydrocolloid biopolymer that may have potential application in water/wastewater treatment as a natural coagulant. In this study, the structural (UPLC-QTOF-MS, FTIR...

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Autores principales: Otálora, Maria Carolina, Wilches-Torres, Andrea, Lara, Carlos Rafael, Cifuentes, Gabriel Ricardo, Gómez Castaño, Jovanny A.
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2022
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9504202/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36145978
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14183832
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author Otálora, Maria Carolina
Wilches-Torres, Andrea
Lara, Carlos Rafael
Cifuentes, Gabriel Ricardo
Gómez Castaño, Jovanny A.
author_facet Otálora, Maria Carolina
Wilches-Torres, Andrea
Lara, Carlos Rafael
Cifuentes, Gabriel Ricardo
Gómez Castaño, Jovanny A.
author_sort Otálora, Maria Carolina
collection PubMed
description The peels obtained as a byproduct from the processing of fruits (prickly pears) of the Cactaceae family are a rich source of mucilage, a hydrocolloid biopolymer that may have potential application in water/wastewater treatment as a natural coagulant. In this study, the structural (UPLC-QTOF-MS, FTIR, Raman, NMR, XRD, and zeta potential), morphological (SEM), and thermal (DSC/TGA) characterizations of the mucilage extracted from the peels of Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) fruits were carried out. UPLC-QTOF-MS results revealed the presence of a branched polymer with an average molecular weight of 0.44 KDa for this mucilage in aqua media. The NMR spectra of mucilage in DMSO-d6 indicated that it seemed well-suited as a coagulant with its typical oligosaccharide structure. FTIR studies confirmed the presence of hydroxyl and carboxyl functional groups in the mucilage, indicating its polyelectrolyte nature that could provide coagulating properties through binding and adsorption mechanisms. Likewise, the zeta potential of −23.63 ± 0.55 mV showed an anionic nature of the mucilage. Power XRD technique evidenced the presence of crystalline poly(glycine-β-alanine), glutamic acid, and syn-whewellite. SEM images revealed an irregular and amorphous morphology with cracks, which are suitable characteristics for adsorption mechanisms. The mucilage exhibited two endothermic transitions, with a decomposition temperature in uronic acid of 423.10 °C. These findings revealed that mucilage obtained from OFI fruit peels has molecular and physicochemical characteristics that are suited to its possible application as a natural coagulant in water/wastewater treatments.
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spelling pubmed-95042022022-09-24 Use of Opuntia ficus-indica Fruit Peel as a Novel Source of Mucilage with Coagulant Physicochemical/Molecular Characteristics Otálora, Maria Carolina Wilches-Torres, Andrea Lara, Carlos Rafael Cifuentes, Gabriel Ricardo Gómez Castaño, Jovanny A. Polymers (Basel) Article The peels obtained as a byproduct from the processing of fruits (prickly pears) of the Cactaceae family are a rich source of mucilage, a hydrocolloid biopolymer that may have potential application in water/wastewater treatment as a natural coagulant. In this study, the structural (UPLC-QTOF-MS, FTIR, Raman, NMR, XRD, and zeta potential), morphological (SEM), and thermal (DSC/TGA) characterizations of the mucilage extracted from the peels of Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) fruits were carried out. UPLC-QTOF-MS results revealed the presence of a branched polymer with an average molecular weight of 0.44 KDa for this mucilage in aqua media. The NMR spectra of mucilage in DMSO-d6 indicated that it seemed well-suited as a coagulant with its typical oligosaccharide structure. FTIR studies confirmed the presence of hydroxyl and carboxyl functional groups in the mucilage, indicating its polyelectrolyte nature that could provide coagulating properties through binding and adsorption mechanisms. Likewise, the zeta potential of −23.63 ± 0.55 mV showed an anionic nature of the mucilage. Power XRD technique evidenced the presence of crystalline poly(glycine-β-alanine), glutamic acid, and syn-whewellite. SEM images revealed an irregular and amorphous morphology with cracks, which are suitable characteristics for adsorption mechanisms. The mucilage exhibited two endothermic transitions, with a decomposition temperature in uronic acid of 423.10 °C. These findings revealed that mucilage obtained from OFI fruit peels has molecular and physicochemical characteristics that are suited to its possible application as a natural coagulant in water/wastewater treatments. MDPI 2022-09-14 /pmc/articles/PMC9504202/ /pubmed/36145978 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14183832 Text en © 2022 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Otálora, Maria Carolina
Wilches-Torres, Andrea
Lara, Carlos Rafael
Cifuentes, Gabriel Ricardo
Gómez Castaño, Jovanny A.
Use of Opuntia ficus-indica Fruit Peel as a Novel Source of Mucilage with Coagulant Physicochemical/Molecular Characteristics
title Use of Opuntia ficus-indica Fruit Peel as a Novel Source of Mucilage with Coagulant Physicochemical/Molecular Characteristics
title_full Use of Opuntia ficus-indica Fruit Peel as a Novel Source of Mucilage with Coagulant Physicochemical/Molecular Characteristics
title_fullStr Use of Opuntia ficus-indica Fruit Peel as a Novel Source of Mucilage with Coagulant Physicochemical/Molecular Characteristics
title_full_unstemmed Use of Opuntia ficus-indica Fruit Peel as a Novel Source of Mucilage with Coagulant Physicochemical/Molecular Characteristics
title_short Use of Opuntia ficus-indica Fruit Peel as a Novel Source of Mucilage with Coagulant Physicochemical/Molecular Characteristics
title_sort use of opuntia ficus-indica fruit peel as a novel source of mucilage with coagulant physicochemical/molecular characteristics
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC9504202/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/36145978
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/polym14183832
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