A new method for ellagic acid production from pomegranate husk

Pomegranate (Punica granatum L.) husk, a by-product of the pomegranate juice industry, is an inexpensive and abundant source of ellagic acid. Ellagic acid is widely used as functional food for its physiological functions. It is the breakdown product of ellagitannins. To date, the preparation of ellagic acid from pomegranate husk has not been reported. This article reports a new process for ellagic acid production from pomegranate husk by extraction of tannins followed by acid hydrolysis and purification by extraction and recrystallization. Several tests were conducted to obtain optimum conditions including extraction of tannins by varying solvents, acid concentration and reaction time for acid hydrolysis and the volume of methanol used for purification. Ellagic acid (3.5 g) with 90% purity from 100 g pomegranate husk was obtained. This new method is easy to scale up. All equipment used in this production process is widely used in food processing industry. The cost of production is low. It is suitable for industrial applications.