Scale-up of a pressurized liquid extraction equipment operating in batch - a study directed at efficient production of passion fruit tincture and soybean oil using green solvents

• Grant number: 18/18024-7
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• Start date: March 01, 2019
• End date: May 31, 2021
• Field of knowledge: Agronomical Sciences - Food Science and Technology - Food Engineering
• Principal Investigator: Alessandra Lopes de Oliveira
• Grantee: Alessandra Lopes de Oliveira
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Zootecnia e Engenharia de Alimentos (FZEA). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). Pirassununga , SP, Brazil
• Associated researchers: Cintia Bernardo Gonçalves ; Fernando de Lima Caneppele ; Monica Roberta Mazalli

Abstract

This research project aims to construct an accelerated liquid extraction equipment in a pilot scale. The Accelerated Solvent Extraction (ASE) process is a new technique developed in the 1990s to prepare analytical samples, for example to more efficiently extract herbicide residues in soil and food. More recently, it has been used in the study of the composition of extracts from plant and animal sources.There are several process parameters considered in the extraction that occurs with the pressurized solvent, the pressure (which can range from 2 to 40 MPa), the temperature, the contact time between the solvent and the matrix in the fixed bed extractor, the quantity of solvent and the number of times that this solvent will contact the matrix in the extractor. The high pressure of the process enables a better diffusivity of the solvent in the matrix since at high pressure the solvent will remain in its liquid state in a temperature condition in which it would be in the vapor state at atmospheric pressure.In the study of these variables in the extraction process optimization performed by our research group, it was found that the fact of employing pressurized solvents in a batch system, there is considerable solvent economy; in addition, the process is relatively fast.The inclusion of the denomination "in batch" in this process is to differentiate it from the several semi-continuous processes that use pressurized solvents passing through the fixed bed packed with the matrix in a constant flow for a certain period, in this case it is not identified solvent economy. However, when operated in cycles, the pressurized liquid extraction equipment proposed in this project will subdivide the total amount of solvent to be employed by the number of cycles chosen and this implies the exhaustion of the compounds in the matrix with as little solvent as possible.When the equipment is assembled on a pilot scale, the process optimization tests will be carried out to obtain high yields of extracts using a low amount of solvents, paying attention to preserving the activity of the extract when the matrix is rich in active compounds.As will be seen in the introduction of this proposal, which defends the state of the art, the researchers involved in this project are knowledgeable about the subject and are constituents of the same research group newly created at the University of São Paulo.The development of a pilot-scale equipment implies the possibility of generating large amounts of studies, specifically for the implementation of this proposal, will be evaluated the solvent economy in obtaining soybean oil, product of commercial relevance in Brazil and obtaining extract of Passiflora incarnata L. also with important emphasis on national production. (AU)

Scientific publications

(References retrieved automatically from Web of Science and SciELO through information on FAPESP grants and their corresponding numbers as mentioned in the publications by the authors)

VICENTINI-POLETTE, CAROLINA MEDEIROS; RAMOS, PAULO RODOLFO; GONCALVES, CINTIA BERNARDO; DE OLIVEIRA, ALESSANDRA LOPES. Determination of free fatty acids in crude vegetable oil samples obtained by high-pressure processes. FOOD CHEMISTRY-X, v. 12, DEC 30 2021. (18/18024-7)

RODRIGUES, LARISSA DA CUNHA; BODINI, RENATA BARBOSA; CANEPPELE, FERNANDO DE LIMA; DACANAL, GUSTAVO CESAR; CREVELIN, EDUARDO JOSE; DE MORAES, LUIZ ALBERTO BERALDO; DE OLIVEIRA, ALESSANDRA LOPES. Pressurized Liquid Extraction (PLE) in an Intermittent Process as an Alternative for Obtaining Passion Fruit (Passiflora edulis) Leaf Hydroalcoholic Extract (Tincture). PROCESSES, v. 11, n. 8, p. 23-pg., 2023-08-01. (18/18024-7)