Abstract
Mauritia flexuosa L.f. is a palm from the Amazon. Pulp and oil are extracted from its fruits, with a high content of bioactive compounds. This study presents the economic evaluation of two extraction processes: (a) Conventional solvent extraction (CSE) with 80% ethanol for the recovery of phenolic-rich extracts; and (b) Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) followed by CSE to obtain oil and phenolic-rich extracts. The objective of this study was to compare the feasibility of both extraction processes. The economic evaluation and the sensitivity study were evaluated using the SuperPro Designer 9.0® software at an extraction volume of 2000 L. Similar global extraction yields were obtained for both processes; however, 8.4 and 2.4 times more total polyphenol and flavonoid content were extracted, respectively, using SFE+CSE. Cost of manufacturing (COM) was higher in SFE+CSE compared to CSE, USD 193.38/kg and USD 126.47/kg, respectively; however, in the first process, two by-products were obtained. The sensitivity study showed that the cost of the raw material was the factor that had the highest impact on COM in both extraction processes. SFE+CSE was the most economically viable process for obtaining bioactive compounds on an industrial scale from M. flexuosa L.f.
Highlights
Introduction iationsMauritia flexuosa L.f. is a palm from the South American Amazon and it is distributed in Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Guyana [1]
M. flexuosa pulp, while in the Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE)+Conventional solvent extraction (CSE), the global extraction yield was 44.5 g oil/100 g M. flexuosa pulp and 13.84 g extract/100 g M. flexuosa pulp. These results are in agreement with previous studies showing an extraction yield of 8.04%
For phenolic-rich extracts obtained from the pulp of M. flexuosa defatted by Sohxlet [29]
Summary
Introduction iationsMauritia flexuosa L.f. is a palm from the South American Amazon and it is distributed in Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, Colombia, Ecuador, Venezuela and Guyana [1]. The fruit of M. flexuosa is considered a functional food due to its high content of phenolic compounds, carotenoids, essential fatty acids, vitamin E (tocopherols) and dietary fiber [2,3,4]. From the pulp, 20–30% (wt.) of oil can be extracted [5], which contains 89.81% and 10.19% of unsaturated and saturated fatty acids, respectively, as well as a high content of β-carotene (911.4 mg/kg) and tocopherol (800 mg/kg) [6,7]. The phenolic compounds extracted from M. flexuosa have anti-inflammatory, antioxidant, and antimicrobial properties [1,2,3,4,9], important for the prevention of chronic or Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
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