AGAR EXTRACTION

By :
Name : Mellya Rizki Pitriani
S-ID : B1B017031
Group :2
Entourage :I
Assistant : Whydiawati Atmaida Habjar

PRACTICAL REPORT OF PHYCOLOGY

MINISTRY OG EDUCATION AND CULTURE

JENDERAL SOEDIRMAN UNIVERSITY
FACULTY OF BIOLOGY
PURWOKERTO
2020
 I. RESULT AND DISCUSSION

In this laboratory activity, we learn about extraction agar. The materials we

used in this laboratory activity are Glacillaria gigas, aquadest, KOH 10%, soda ash,
and hydrogen peroxide (H202). The tools we used are pan, gas stove, stirrer, filter and
tray. The methods are the first step during extracting agar was, 100 grams of G.
gigas were boiled using pan and gas stove, with 1 L of aquadest was being added.
KOH 10% was added too as much as 50 mL, with soda ash as many as 2 grams for
10 minutes. After 10 minutes being boiled, the next step was the stew was being
filtered, then it was being boiled again with the addition of 100 mL of aquadest and
25 mL of H2O2 for 10 minutes. The next step was filtering the stew and dried in the
sun to dry. Once the stew was dried, the yield was counted using formula:

Final weight
× 100%.
Initial weight
The function of the use of a some materials in this extraction process are the
addition of soda ash serves to destroy the thallus in order to obtain a consistent
molecular texture. Soaking seaweed in 0.25% chlorine serves to change the color of
seaweed to white and become cleaner. The addition of H 2O2 to clean the color and
extract agar. The addition of NaOH to make the solution more acidic and the addition
of KOH to increase the stronge gel (Indriani & Sumiarsih, 1999).
In addition, the quality of the final product is very high depends on the
quality of raw materials on a number of factors: Intrinsic (seaweed species),
environment ( temperature and salinity of water for seaweed growth), harvesting
(mixing rates with other weeds), and postharvest (prior seaweed storage conditions).
This is the term used to describe the separation of liquid from a gel. With no
Required cooling, clear energy consumption much lower than the freeze-thaw
method, and, because more water has been removed, the remaining substance is less
soluble, and so is agar more pure. Less energy is also needed in the drying process
since then less water is discharged. In the process of extracting the method of
conquering check the quality produced is through measurement of gel strength
(Abraham et al., 2018).
In some methods using alkaline solution using NaOH and it takes 2 hours to
remove the strength of the gel on agar and the pH used is 6.5 to 7.5. Native to be
extracted by leaching the red seaweed in hot water, filtering the extract, and followed
by concentrating the extract using freezing and thawing processes to eliminate water.
This extraction method can be easily used to extract agar from Gelidium species but
not for agar with high gel strength like Gracilaria species. Pretreatment procedures
are thus needed to effectively extract the agar with higher gel strength with the
formation of 3,6-anhydrogalactose bridge. Bleaching process is also incorporated
during the extraction process in order to reduce the color of agar. Current industrial
practice uses chemical (sodium hypochlorite) for bleaching process and it gives off
hazardous chlorine gas (Hii et al., 2016).

REFERENCE
Abraham, A., Afewerki, B., Tsegay, B., Ghebremedhin, H., Teklehalmanot, B.,
Reddy, K. S., 2018. Extraction of Agar and Alginate from Marine Seaweeds in Red
Sea Region. International Journal of Marine Biology and Research, pp. 1-8.

Hii, S. L., Lim, J. Y., Ong, W. T., Wong, C. L., 2016. Agar from Malaysian Red
Seaweed as Potential Material for Synthesis of Bioplastic Film. Journal of
Engineering Science and Technology, pp. 1-16.

Indriani, H. and Sumiarsih, H., 1999. Rumput Laut Budidaya, Pengolahan dan
Pemasaran. Jakarta: Penebar Swadaya.