Alternative Source of Beta-Glucan From Oil Palm (Elaeis Guineensis) Trunk Fiber

This study was conducted to develop the method of extracting beta-glucan from the fiber of Elaeis guineensis or oil palm trunk (OPT) and to evaluate its potential. From the previous studies, beta-glucan usually extracted from barley, oats and also bacteria. In this research, wet separation method which is also known as aqueous alcohol method was used to extract beta-glucan from the oil palm trunk fiber. This indirect method of producing beta-glucan was found optimized at conditions of 50% of ethanol as solvent, 4 hours pretreatment duration and temperature of 70oC. Finally beta-glucan was analyzed by enzymatic method and the percentage of beta-glucan extracted in this study was 34.17 percent.