Uso de tecnologias limpas para a obtenção de biosurfactantes e carboidratos prebióticos a partir do Ginseng brasileiro (Pfaffia glomerata)

Author(s)

Renata Vardanega

• Document type: Doctoral Thesis
• Press: Campinas, SP.
• Institution: Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Faculdade de Engenharia de Alimentos
• Defense date: 2016-03-17

Examining board members

Maria Angela de Almeida Meireles Petenate; Guilherme José Maximo; Marco Di Luccio; Priscilla Carvalho Veggi; Rosiane Lopes da Cunha

• Advisor: Diego Tresinari dos Santos; Maria Angela de Almeida Meireles Petenate

Abstract

Brazilian ginseng (Pfaffia glomerata) is a native plant from Brazil that contains a rich composition of bioactive compounds, including beta-ecdysone with stimulating effects, saponins with surfactant activity and prebiotic sugars with prebiotic effects. In this context, different extraction process were studied to maximize the bioactive compounds recovery, as well as to fractionate them, using only non-toxic solvents. Firstly, a techno-economic evaluation of the extraction of beta-ecdysone from roots and aerial parts of Brazilian ginseng using subcritical water was performed. The results showed that is possible to obtain extracts from Brazilian ginseng roots with 0.7% (dry basis, d.b.) of beta-ecdysone, while the Brazilian ginseng aerial parts extracts yielded 0.3% (d.b.) of beta-ecdysone. In terms of prebiotic sugars, the extracts from Brazilian ginseng roots showed a fructooligosaccharides content of 8.8% (d.b.), which makes this raw material an important source of such compounds. Since to date the beta-ecdysone is the main compound with commercial value obtained from Brazilian ginseng, the economic evaluation of the subcritical water extraction process accounted only the beta-ecdysone content in the extracts. The economic evaluation showed that the manufacturing of roots was a great opportunity of business, while the manufacturing of the aerial parts should not be undertaken. Considering the results obtained in this study and data from literature about extraction of bioactive compounds from Brazilian ginseng, an intensified process was proposed to increase the beta-ecdysone, saponins and prebiotic sugars recovery from Brazilian ginseng roots. The intensified process was performed in two steps: the first step used ethanol as solvent and the second one used water as solvent, both at 333 K. The effect of pressure on this process was evaluated. It was observed that to obtain bioactive compounds from Brazilian ginseng roots, the use of ambient pressure yielded greater results than those obtained at high pressure. In this process, an ethanolic extract containing 5.6% (d.b.) of beta-ecdysone, 47% (d.b.) of saponins with critical micellar concentration (CMC) = 6 mg?mL-1 was obtained. No prebiotic sugar was detected in the ethanolic extract, otherwise, the aqueous extract showed a fructooligosaccharides content of 9% (d.b.) besides 0.5% (d.b.) of beta-ecdysone and 24% (d.b.) of saponins with CMC = 18 mg?mL-1. In this way, the intensified process allowed the extraction and fractionating of the bioactive compounds from Brazilian ginseng roots, since it was possible to obtain an ethanolic extract rich in beta-ecdysone and saponins and an aqueous extract rich in prebiotic sugars. Based on the experimental results, an economic study was developed aiming to compare different production scenarios to evaluate the economic viability of the intensified process. The study confirmed that the intensified process is the best way to produce Brazilian ginseng extracts. At the end of the development of this work, it was showed that it is possible replace conventional extraction processes by innovative processes, which use non-toxic solvents, reduces the residues generation and are more efficient from the energetic point of view. Furthermore, the proposed processes showed high economic feasibility (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/17260-5 - Extraction process intensification of saponins from Brazilian ginseng (Pfaffia glomerata) using ultrasound and hyphenized processes for integral use of the plant
• Grantee: Renata Vardanega
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Doctorate