FARIAS, Henriqueta Monalisa.; ABREU, Amanda Kelle Fernand.es; OLIVEIRA, Norna Maria da Silva.; BARROS, Aldre Jorge Morais.
Abstract:
The natural gums are widely used in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.
Until 2012, the cost of importing Brazil into gum arabic was US $ 5.8 million, a figure considered high
considering that the country has gum species, substitutes with the potential to replace gum arabic. In this
sense, the objective of the work was to characterize the physico-chemical properties of the resin of
Albizia lebbeck planted in the semi-arid Paraíba. For this, analyzes of parameters such as moisture,
specific mass, viscosity, ash content and organic carbon were made, differentiating the samples A, B
and C by the natural exposure time, in order to emphasize the differences between them in the oxidation
level. In the humidity parameter, sample C showed a similar value to gum of the angico, as well as
specific mass values compatible with gum arabic, with viscosity to gum ratio is classified in the category
of low viscosity gums. The samples showed low ash content, with samples B and C being highlighted
in relation to sample A. With the large area of Albizia lebbeck cultivation in the Brazilian Northeast, the
resin extracted from this crop would be a great alternative for aggregation of value, considering that this
co-product could increase foreign exchange in foreign trade and reduce the import of gum arabic.
KEY WORDS: Albizia gum, arabica gum, biodiversity.
