Naslov
Enabling technologies in food processing and plant extraction

Autori
Gunjević, Veronika

Vrsta, podvrsta i kategorija rada
Ocjenski radovi, doktorska disertacija

Fakultet
Dipartimento di Scienza e Tecnologia del Farmaco

Mjesto
Torino

Datum
01.03

Godina
2021

Stranica
141

Mentor
Cravotto, Giancarlo

Ključne riječi
biologically active compounds ; green extraction ; ultrasound ; microwave ; green solvents ; valorization

Sažetak
With the current advances in medicine, nutrition and chemistry, synthetic artificial pharmaceutical and cosmetic product are gaining a negative connotation by the general public. Consequently, there is a growing demand for functional foods and products of natural origin that contain phytochemicals. Phytochemicals exert numerous biological activities beneficial for human health such as anti-tumour, anti-inflammatory, anti- viral, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, anti-parasitic and cardio-protective effects. Traditionally, phytochemicals are recovered in long-lasting processes with conventional heating sources, where volatile organic compounds are used as solvents and often the extraction yields and selectivity are unsatisfying. Therefore, due to the need for process intensification, increasing energy prices and obligation to reduce CO2 emission, it is necessary to find new solutions for the plant bioactives recovery. Adoption of new technologies such as ultrasound (US), microwaves (MW), hydrodynamic cavitation, pulsed electric field, etc., that are recently introduced in the field of plant extraction, could be the key innovation. Moreover, the implementation of new environmental friendly solvents that could meet both technological and economical demand is crucial factor for achieving a green and efficient process. Food industry generates a large amount of organic wastes that are generally disposed unexploited. Up to date, such wastes are only partially valorised, manufacturing only low added value products (fertilizers, animal feed, composting). Nevertheless, these matrixes still show a high content of proteins, sugars, fibres, lipids and bioactive compounds. Hence in the frame of circular economy, these by-products can be considered valuable sources for functional food, cosmetics and pharmaceuticals preparation. When this approach is adopted not only environmental impact reduction is achieved ; it leads to numerous economic benefits owning to the added value maximizing. In the light of the aforesaid, present thesis is focused on food industry by-products and medicinal plants biologically active compounds recovery by means of green extraction. US and MW techniques in different set ups have been exploited. Green solvents such as water, water in subcritical state, supercritical CO2 and natural deep eutectic solvents (NADES) have been incorporated in extraction processes. In addition, solvent-free approach in a pilot scale has been evaluated. The biological activities of the obtained phytochemicals were evaluated in in vitro tests. This thesis is divided in 3 main chapters ; first chapter is an introduction reporting green extraction processes state of the art. In the second chapter, the main focus will be placed on testing innovative technologies for phytochemicals extraction from various plant sources. The third chapter will be dedicated to anthocyanins extraction using natural deep eutectic solvents. As in chapter 3, process intensification will be experimented with different enabling technologies.

Izvorni jezik
Engleski

Znanstvena područja
Kemija, Farmacija

POVEZANOST RADA