Tender coconut
husk waste as a potential source for extraction of Xylooligosaccharides
Valarmathy Kanagasabapathy, Indulekha John, Manjunatha Bukkambudi Krishnaswamy and
Remya Rajendran
Res. J. Chem. Environ.; Vol. 29(9); 134-146;
doi: https://doi.org/10.25303/299rjce1340146; (2025)
Abstract
The present study investigated the application of alkali and steam to extract xylan
from tender coconut husk and then enzymatically hydrolysed to produce Xylooligosaccharides
(XOS), which has the application as a prebiotic to improve the gut health. 82% of
the xylan was separated from the husk using 20% NaOH and steam treatment for 60
minutes. Enzyme concentration and temperature had a substantial impact on xylose
yield while enzyme concentration, temperature, time, and pH had an impact on xylobiose
yield.
Hemicelluloses in the husk and the presence of xylan in the extracted material were
confirmed by FTIR analysis. 2.834 mg/ml of xylose and 2.21 mg/ml of xylobiose were
produced at the optimum conditions of crude xylanase enzyme concentration of 5.0%,
a pH of 5.4, a temperature of 65°C, and a 6-hour incubation time. From the present
study, it has been observed that tender coconut husk is suitable for extracting
xylan and XOS.
