Abstract:
Extraction of chlorophyll from various plants is a key topic of scientific and
commercial interest Altemantherasessilis was used for theextraction of chlorophyll as a locally available
plant in Sri Lanka. The effect of methods of pre processing and storage conditions of A. sessilis on the
chlorophyll content was studied. Mechanical grinding was found to be asuperior pre-processing
method compared to blanching and drying. Optimum storage conditions were ambient temperature
for one day storage and refrigeration at 15°C for more than one day storage. The kinetic studies on
chlorophyll degradation revealed that bothchlorophyll a-and b degradation followed the first-order
reaction model. The temperature dependence of the rate constant was adequately modeled by the
Arrhenius equation. The activation energy values were 3.0143 kcal/mol and 2.78 kcal/mol for
chlorophyll a and chlorophyll b, respectively.
