Microwave-assisted Extraction of Vanillin from Madagascar <i>Vanilla planifolia</i> beans: Optimization and Modeling

Abstract

Green MAE (microwave extraction) process was used to extract natural flavors (vanillin) from Madagascar <i>Vanilla planifolia</i> beans. Experimentally, we used a factor to study the influence of parameters on extraction efficiency, and response surface methodology (RSM) was used to obtain interactions between the key influencing parameters. The present study used response surface methodology (RSM) to optimize extraction parameters for vanillin compounds from <i>Vanilla planifolia</i> beans from Madagascar. Three independent variables were evaluated that had a major impact on vanillin content: alcohol concentration, microwave power, and solvent/material (S/M) ratio. A central composite rotation design (CCRD) was used to develop the experimental design. The optimal conditions for microwave-assisted extraction to obtain higher vanillin yield in pods are 480 W for microwave power, 72% for alcohol concentration, and 30 ml/g for Solvent/Material ratio, with an irradiation time of 60 min. The conventional Soxhlet method is less efficient than microwave extraction to extract vanillin from pods. In the traditional extraction, the optimal conditions were an extraction time of 16 hours for 90% ethanol as the solvent. The experimental values are close to those predicted by the obtained mathematical model. Vanilla extracts are analyzed by UV Visible spectrophotometry and HPLC.