New proposal for production of bioactive compounds by supercritical technology integrated to a sugarcane biorefinery

Author(s)

Santos, Diego T. ; Albarelli, Juliana Q. ; Rostagno, Mauricio A. ; Ensinas, Adriano V. ; Marechal, Francois ; Meireles, M. Angela A.

• Document type: Journal article
• Source: Clean Technologies and Environmental Policy; v. 16, n. 7, p. 14-pg., 2014-10-01.

Abstract

The construction of a supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) plant inside or in close proximity to a sugarcane biorefinery producing first and second generation ethanol demonstrated to be very promising, increasing the economic potential of the SFE process in up to 57 %, since the SFE plant could use directly the ethanol, CO2, heat, and electricity already available, with lower prices. In this study, Brazilian ginseng roots were used as model bioactive compounds source and first the statistical influence of the extraction conditions including pressure (10-20 MPa), temperature (323-363 K), and CO2/ethanol proportion ratio (90:10, 50:50, and 0:100 %, w/w) on the beta-ecdysone content in the extracts was experimentally evaluated and compared with literature results. SFE process evaluated experimentally at the present study showed higher selective extraction for beta-ecdysone from Brazilian ginseng roots, providing an extract with up to 2.16 times higher beta-ecdysone than the results obtained in previous studies. Thermal integration of the SFE process diminished energy requirements of the process, resulting in a reduction of cold utility requirement of 87 % and a final electricity demand of 7.5 kWh/g of beta-ecdysone in the extract. In a situation in which the Brazilian ginseng roots price was increased to 4.71 USD/g, only the SFE integrated with the biorefinery solution would be economically feasible. Finally, the selling of the ginseng roots leftover could be an interesting answer to increase the economical attractiveness of the integrated SFE process to the biorefinery. (AU)

• FAPESP's process: 13/15049-5 - Development of integrated systems for the analysis of bioactive compounds in natural products employing supercritical technology
• Grantee: Maurício Ariel Rostagno
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Young Researchers
• FAPESP's process: 10/16485-5 - Technical and economic evaluation of the integration of sustainable processes for a better use of brazilian ginseng (Pfaffia glomerata)
• Grantee: Diego Tresinari dos Santos
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Post-Doctoral
• FAPESP's process: 09/17234-9 - Obtaining anthocyanins, carotenoids, flavonoids, volatile oils, and tocotrienols by supercritical technology: process parameters and chemical characterization of extracts
• Grantee: Maria Angela de Almeida Meireles Petenate
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants
• FAPESP's process: 12/19304-7 - Brazilian ginseng biorefinery: simulation and multi-objective optimization
• Grantee: Diego Tresinari dos Santos
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships abroad - Research Internship - Post-doctor
• FAPESP's process: 12/10685-8 - Combination and coupling of processes for the production and encapsulation of value-added vegetal extracts: technical and economic evaluation
• Grantee: Maria Angela de Almeida Meireles Petenate
• Support Opportunities: Regular Research Grants