Characteristics Of Salak Peel Extract As A Natural Dye Source At Various Ethanol Solvent Concentrations And Extraction Times Using Microwave Assisted Extraction

Abstract

Salak peel contains polyphenols, flavonoids, and tannins that have the potential to be used as natural colorants. These compounds can be obtained through extraction using the Microwave Assisted Extraction method. This study aimed to determine the effect of ethanol solvent concentration and extraction time using this method on the characteristics of salak peel extract, as well as to determine the best treatment combination to produce the extract as a natural colorant source. The experimental design used was a factorial Randomized Block Design (RBD) with 2 factors grouped based on the time of implementation. The first factor was the ethanol solvent concentration consisting of 3 levels, namely 50%, 70%, and 90%. The second factor was the extraction time consisting of 3 levels, namely 3, 5, and 7 minutes. The data were analyzed using Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) and followed by the Honestly Significant Difference (HSD) test. The results showed that the ethanol solvent concentration, extraction time, and their interaction had a highly significant effect on total phenols, total flavonoids, total tannins, and L* color intensity, but the interaction of the two treatments had no significant effect on the yield, a* color intensity, and b* color intensity. The ethanol solvent concentration and extraction time had a highly significant effect on the yield, a* color intensity, and b* color intensity. Based on the effectiveness index test, the best treatment to obtain salak peel extract as a natural colorant was the 70% ethanol solvent treatment with an extraction time of 7 minutes, with the characteristics of 13.73 ± 0.16% yield, 13.86 ± 0.25 mg GAE/g total phenols, 7.26 ± 0.16 mg QE/g total flavonoids, 6.67 ± 0.11 mg TAE/g total tannins, L* 11.20 ± 0.48, a* 5.15 ± 0.38, and b* 8.34 ± 0.14.