Recovery of Carotenoids from Tomato Pomace Using a Hydrofluorocarbon Solvent in Sub-Critical Conditions

The enrichment of oils with nutraceutical bioactive phytomolecules allows the achievement of functional oil-based products of great interest in the food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic fields. Carotenoids, such as lycopene and beta-carotene, are available at a high concentration in tomatoes and tomato waste products, as peels, seeds, and pulp; their recovery is recently attracting growing interest and economic importance in the food industry, and also in consideration of the huge amount of industrial waste produced. The aim of this work is to study the production of an oil functionalized with carotenoids from tomato peels. The extractions were carried out using an innovative process based on the use of commercial Norflurane as solvent in subcritical conditions. Extraction trials were performed on dried tomato peels, with the addition of tomato seeds or wheat germ flour as sources of oily co-solvents, capable of also preserving the biological characteristics of the carotenoids extracted. Although lycopene solubility in Norflurane is quite low, the solvent recirculation and regeneration were allowed to reach a concentration in the oily extracts of approximately 0.3 mg/g(oil) after 2 h of the process. The enrichment in beta-carotene was more pronounced, and concentrations of 0.733 mg/g(oil) and 0.952 mg/g(oil) were observed in wheat germ and tomato seed oils, respectively. The results obtained in this study were compared with those obtained by traditional and supercritical CO2 extraction methods.

Automated summary

This study successfully enriched carotenoid-rich oil from tomato peels by using Norflurane as a solvent in subcritical conditions.