Potassium Carbonate From Banana Skins: When Done With This Here Dobe Several Other Ideas

Download as docx, pdf, or txt
Download as docx, pdf, or txt
You are on page 1of 4

Potassium carbonate from banana skins

I read on few pages that average banana contains about 460 miligrams of potassium while the skin of those bananas
contains 40% of that potassium. That is about 180 mg of potassium per skin.

When done with this here dobe several other ideas.

Potassium carbonate was formerly manufactured almost entirely


from wood ashes. The ashes were treated with water, filtered, and
the solution evaporated. Nowadays, in addition to the above
source, most of the " potash " of commerce is obtained from three
sources: (a) from beet-root, (b) from the sweat of sheep, and
(c) from potassium sulfate. (a) The molasses from beet-root sugar
is allowed to ferment, and is then evaporated. A black mass
containing the potash is then obtained. (b) One-third of the weight
of the sweat of sheep is potassium compounds. The washings of
sheep wool are evaporated to dryness, and then heated in retorts.
What is left is carbon and various potassium salts, which are then
separated. (c) Potassium sulfate is obtained as a byproduct in
many processes. It is converted to the carbonate by a process
noted later under the manufacture of sodium carbonate.

Relationship between ash and potash contents: It would be expected that the higher the ash content the more the
potash yield; that is, an existence of highly linear relationship between the two; but this may not be true in all cases.
In Fig. 1, the ash content is strongly correlated with the potash yield (% of dry sample) (that is, R 2 = 0.893) for
varieties of Musa species; whereas poor correlation is observed for sawdust of some wood species (R 2 = 0.0324)
(Fig. 2).

Determination of potash content: To determine the potash content of a plant material, a known weight of the
material is completely combusted to ashes. The ash is leached with a known volume of water. The leachate contains
all water-soluble inorganic compounds, forming the impure (crude) potash. The resulting potash could be obtained in
dry form by evaporating the leachate to complete dryness and drying the residue to constant weight in an oven at
105°C. If weight w1 of ash is extracted with water of volume v and after evaporation of volume v 1 to complete dryness,
a residue with constant weight w2 is obtained, Potash Content (PCa) (% of ash) is derived as:

Potassium carbonate, also known as potash in its crude form, has the chemical symbol K2CO3. It can be made by
burning organic material and using the ash that is produced. This is because potassium and carbon are present in
many living things.

Potash is used in the making of soap and glass and was traditionally produced through the burning of organic
material and the crystallization of the potassium carbonate for hundreds of years.

Identify organic material -- e.g., tree branches or reeds -- to make the ash as the first step in making potassium
carbonate. Most plants and trees contain potassium carbonate; just in varying amounts. If using trees, be sure to
include leaves and branches, as this is where the most potassium is located.
Materials and methods

Materials
Source of samples

Banana (Musa Acuminate) was purchased from local market in Egypt.

Chemicals and drugs

2 ml (v/v) carbon tetrachloride/kg Shibate et al. (1999) all chemicals were obtained from El-Gomhoria Company for
chemicals, Cairo, Egypt.

Banana peels preparation

The peels were removed from the flesh and submitted to the following processes:

1.Fresh peels: banana fresh peels were washed with water and cut into small pieces.

2.Dried peels: peel samples were dried at 50 °C in a hot air oven for 12 h and ground to obtain the particle size of
less than 1.0 mm (Adejuyitan et al., 2008).

Methods
1. Chemical analysis

Samples of banana peels were analyzed chemically for protein, fat, moisture and ash contents using the methods
described by A.O.A.C. (2005). Total dietary fiber was determined by enzymatic and gravimetric method according
to A.A.C.C. (2000). Carbohydrates were calculated by difference.

Mineral and vitamin analysis

The mineral and vitamin composition of the banana peels was determined according to the methods of the A.O.A.C.
(2005).

2. Biological analysis

Plasma lipids were determined spectrophotometrically according to the method of Schmit (1964). The triglycerides in
plasma were estimated spectrophotometrically according to the method of Wahlefeld (1974). The method of Allian et
al. (1974) was used to determine total cholesterol. Plasma HDL-Cholesterol was determined according to the study
by Gordon and Amer (1977).

LDL-cholesterol and VLDL-cholesterol were estimated from quantitative measurements of total and HDL-cholesterol
and plasma triglycerides (TG) using the empirical relationship of Friedewald et al. (1972).

The activities of plasma transaminases (GOT and GPT) and Albumin were measured using the method of Reitman
and Frankel (1957). Plasma alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and lactate dehydrogenase activities (LDH) were determined
according to the study by Res-GSCC (DGKC) (1972). Glutamyl transferase activity (GGT) was measured as
described by Szasz (1969).

3. Statistical analysis

Statistical analysis of results was statistically analyzed using computer program (SPSS, 2010). One-way analysis of
variance (ANOVA), low significant differences (LSD) and Duncan were used, and the difference was considered
significant at p-value < 0.05 according to the study by Zar (1984).
Chemical Analysis
Data presented in Table 1 show the chemical composition of fresh banana peels which was 10.04 ± 0.04,
5.32 ± 0.72, 54.01 ± 1.03, 21.96 ± 0.25, 8.23 ± 0.04 and 50.25 ± 0.04 g/100 g for protein, fat, carbohydrates,
moistures, ash and total dietary fiber respectively. On the other hand, the values of protein, fat, carbohydrates,
moistures, ash and total dietary fiber in dried banana peels were 7.25 ± 0.37, 4.81 ± 0.94, 79.87 ± 0.26, 6.73 ± 1.05,
1.34 ± 1.05 and 44.28 ± 0.04 g/100 g respectively. Happi Emaga et al. (2007) showed that the banana peel had
higher fat, ash, and total dietary fiber content, but lower protein and starch content than those of the banana peels at
stage 1 of ripeness (4.2, 12.8, 37.3, 3.6 and 9.5 g/100 g dry matter, respectively). This might be due to the
differences in types or due to geographical factors. Figuerola et al., 2005, Llobera and Canellas, 2007, Marin et al.,
2007 reported by had lower total dietary fiber content than fiber obtained from different sources of fruit industrial by-
products (60–78 g/100 g dry matter).

Table 1. The chemical composition of banana peels.

Chemical composition (g)/100 g Banana peels (mean ± SD)

Fresh Dried

Protein 10.04 ± 0.04 7.25 ± 0.37

Fat 5.32 ± 0.72 4.81 ± 0.94

Carbohydrates 54.01 ± 1.03 79.87 ± 0.26

Moistures 21.96 ± 0.25 6.73 ± 1.05

Ash 8.23 ± 0.04 1.34 ± 1.05

Total dietary fiber 50.25 ± 0.04 44.28 ± 0.04

The data were presented as mean ± S.D. of three independent analyses.

References
A.A.C.C., 2000

A.A.C.C.Approved Methods of the American Association of Cereal Chemists

(10 ed.), American Association of Cereal Chemists, St. Paul, Minnesota, USA(2000)

Google Scholar

Adejuyitan et al., 2008

J.A. Adejuyitan, O.E. Adelakun, S.A. Olaniyan, F.I. PopoolaEvaluating the quality characteristics of kunun
produced from dry-milled sorghum

Afr. J. Biotechnol., 7 (13) (2008), pp. 2244-2247

View Record in ScopusGoogle Scholar


Adlin, 2008

Adlin, N.M.D.Y., 2008. Correlation between total phenolics and mineral content with antioxidant activity and
determination of bioactive compounds in various local bananas (Musa sp.). Thesis, Universitas Diponegoro,
Semarang.

Google Scholar

Allian et al., 1974

C.C. Allian, L.S. Poon, C.S.G. Chan, W. RichmondEnzymatic colourimetric method of the determination of
plasma total cholesterol

Clin. Chem., 20 (1974), p. 470

View Record in ScopusGoogle Scholar

Anhwange et al., 2008

B.A. Anhwange, T.J. Ugye, T.D. NyiaatagherChemical composition of Musa sapientum (banana) peels

Electron. J. Environ. Agric. Food Chem., 8 (6) (2008), pp. 437-442

Google Scholar

A.O.A.C., 2005

A.O.A.C.

Official Methods of Analysis, vol. 8, Association of Official Analytical Chemists, Arlington, Virginia, D.C., USA (2005),
pp. 242-273

View Record in Scopus

You might also like