Tanvi Patel [Link] H.
Bio / 1A 10/23/11 Making Apple Juice Lab Introduction: Apple juice is made by straining apple sauce through a filter to remove the juice. Enzymes are used to stimulate and/or accelerate chemical reactions in living organisms. Cellulase and pectinase are two plant enzymes. Cellulase breaks down cellulose, the main component of cell walls. Pectinase breaks down pectin, which acts as the glue of the cell wall. It is a known fact that pectinase breaks down the pectin in fruits cell walls. Pectinase costs $50/liter and Cellulase costs $100/liter. A Connecticut company that makes and sells apple juice would like us to find the enzyme that is most cost-effective and will increase juice production. Hypothesis: If we use both enzymes then they will produce more juice because cellulase will break down cellulose, the chains of glucose of the cell walls, and pectinase will break down pectin, the glue of the cell wall. Variables: Independent Variable: Type of enzyme Dependent Variable: Amount of apple juice (mL) Constant Variables Number of Drops (6); Amount of Apple Sauce (40g); Type of Apple Sauce; Environment; How long to stir (2 min); How long to leave n filter (17.5 min); Size and thickness of filter. Procedure: 1. Gather materials and put on goggles a. Apple Sauce b. Enzymes/water cellulase, pectinase and water c. 4 droppers d. Timer e. Filter f. funnel g. 4 stirrers h. Grad. Cylinder i. Spoons j. Cups for c+p , p, c , w to put apple juice, and cups to hold apple sauce k. Goggles 2. Get 40g of apple sauce in cup 3. Put 6 drops of pectinase in apple sauce 4. Stir for two minutes. 5. Filter then leave for 17.5 minutes 6. Measure by pouring apple juice in graduated cylinder. 7. Then repeat with water, cellulase, and both enzymes. For both enzymes put 3 drops of cellulase and 3 drops of pectinase
Results:
Amount of Apple Sauce Produced by each Enzyme
Labeled Cup Cup P Pectinase Cup C Cellulase Cup C & P (Both Enzymes) Cup W - Water Trial 1 (mL) 19 12.25 23 8.25 Trial 2 (mL) 18.5 11.5 23 11.5 Average (mL) 18.75 11.88 23 9.75
The Affect of Different Enzymes on the Production of Apple Sauce
25 20 Amount of Apple 15 Sauce Measured in 10 mL 5 0 Cup P Pectinase Cup C Cellulase Cup C & P (Both Cup W - Water Enzymes) Type of Enzyme
Trial 1 Trial 2 Average
Observations While dripping (after filtering), the cellulase had a large amount at the beginning but then as time went on, less and less fell The dripping for both was pretty continuous as well as the pectinase The dripping for the water was pretty slow throughout the 17.5 minutes.
Conclusion: Will pectinase, cellulase, or both produce the most amount of juice? Both enzymes, together, provided the most juice. On average, both enzymes produced 23mL of apple juice. cellulase provided 11.88mL of juice, while pectinase provided 18.75mL. Finally, the control, water provided 9.75mL of apple juice. The graph above shows that throughout all the trials, both produced the most juice, followed by pectinase, then cellulase, and finally water. This means that our hypothesis was correct; using both enzymes did produce the most juice. Although using both enzymes is more effective in producing juice, this is not the best option for the company. Using both enzymes will mean that they will have to buy both the enzymes, which will cost $150 for 1 liter of both. This means that one liter will cost them $75 because they will need to combine both the enzymes. A better option would be to use pectinase. Pectinase, on average, only produces
4.25mL, less juice than both. This means that at the cost of 4.25mL, the company will save $25. This means that the most cost-effective and efficient enzyme is pectinase. Reflection: Overall, this was a very well conducted experiment with a few minor flaws. The experiment had more than one trial, kept all possible variables constants (other than the independent variable), and gathered reasonable data. There were no mishaps and the experiment was safe. One possible source of error may be that the experiment was not conducted 3 times, which is the preferable number of trials. Also there were 2 variables that we were not able to completely control, such as the speed of our mixing and the temperature of the room between the 2 trials. These 2 variables may have had an effect on our experiment. We can improve our experiment by changing the type or apple cause or filter. Also we can use just pectinase and change the number of drops to see the change. Finally we can conduct the experiment with just pectinase and see how the production of apple juice changes when we use more or less apple sauce. Overall, this was a well-conducted experiment and so the results are valid.
