PINEAPPLE FRUIT BROMELAIN RECOVERY USING RECYCLABLE FUNCTIONALIZED ORDERED MESOPOROUS SILICA SYNTHESIZED FROM SUGARCANE LEAF ASH

Bromelain, a protease enzyme found in Ananas comosus (Pineapple), was recovered from the fruit juice by adsorption using recyclable functionalized Santa Barbara Acid-15 (SBA-15) synthesized from sugarcane leaf ash. In this work, highly ordered mesoporous silica was synthesized from sugarcane leaf ash by a template-assisted method. It was successfully used as an adsorbent for the recovery of bromelain from pineapple fruit pulp. Amine-functionalized mesoporous silica exhibited a recovery efficiency of 97.89% and a 6.2-fold purification. It was also established that the adsorbent could be easily regenerated by adjusting the pH. In this study, the adsorbent was reused for three cycles without noticeable loss in recovery efficiency. Thus, adsroption using functionalized SBA-15 appears to be a promising alternate separation technique for the recovery of fruit bromelain.