Vegetos- An International Journal of Plant Research

The degradation of synthetic pectin solution was studied in a batch reactor using commercial pectinase CCM. Pectinase was immobilized with sodium alginate using glutaraldehyde as a coupling agent. The activity of pectolyic enzymes was measured by the reduction in viscosity of synthetic pectin solutions. The studies were made at pH 4.5 and 25°C. The pectin degradation was adequately represented by the Michaelis-Menten kinetics. Michaelis-Menten constant, K_m and Maximum reaction rate, V_max for the immobilized enzyme were found to be 3.579 pectin% (w/v) and 0.00296 pectin% (w/v)/sec respectively. The temperature dependence was assessed by Arrhenius law and the activation energy was found to be10.08 kcal/gmol. The differential rate data following Michaelis-Menten kinetics in a batch reactor was integrated numerically using Euler's Integration algorithm and the percentage deviation was found to be only 0.39% during the initial stages. The present experimental work shows the application of fall in viscosity in pectin solution as a means of pectin degradation for data processing.