The idea of this research is to maximize benefits of ripe date palm fruits (cv. Zaghloul) by using it as a source of pectin esterase which is of prime importance for food industry. Pectin esterase was extracted using sodium chloride and its specific activity was determined. The crude pectin esterase specific activity was17849.52Umg-1 protein. Partial purification of the crude enzyme took place with acetone and ethanol to determine the enzyme optimum temperature and pH. The used purification technique resulted in about2.5-fold purification with 20% acetone resulting in 4127.70Umg-1 protein specific activity and16.64% recovery. The same purification fold was obtained with ethanol resulting in4135.44 Umg-1 protein specific activity and 5% recovery. The optimum temperature was 40°C and optimum pH was 8 for the partially purified enzyme. It can be concluded that the quality of pectiesterase enzyme extracted from ripe Zaghloul dates is comparable with that extracted from apple and orange and has specific activity less than apple (30848.90 Umg-1 protein) and more than orange (12736.00 Umg-1 protein).
