Development of Alginate Extraction Method from Sargassum sp. as Thickening

Indonesia has a lot of seaweed that have high potential as a producer of alginate, but the method of extraction has not been as expected. The objective of this study to develop a method of extraction of sodium alginate from seaweed Sargassum through the calcium alginate pathway. This study used different variations of the concentration of calcium chloride. The concentration of calcium chloride used varied 0.5, 0.75 and 1 M. As a control, the extraction of alginate performed through alginic acid pathway which was developed at the Center for Research Product Processing and Biotechnology of Marine and Fisheries, Jakarta. Quality parameters were observed including alginate yield, product appearance, viscosity and gel strength. The result showed that the yield of alginate produced successively for 32.67; 44.67 and 53.33 % and 31.67 % for controls. In appearance, the concentration of calcium chloride did not significantly affect the alginate product appearance, but darker when compared with the product extracted through the alginic acid. Viscosity alginate produced successively 149, 131 and 144 cP, while 304 cP for control. In general, the alginate gel strength extracted through of calcium alginate pathway is lower than the alginic acid pathway.