Energy Consumption Versus Antioxidant Activity of Pressurized Fluid Extracts from Pfaffia glomerata Roots

Conventional extraction techniques have been applied to obtain antioxidant extracts from Pfaffia glomerata roots, most of the times, using polar extracting solvents. Even if these techniques are able to provide extracts with antioxidant activities, more environmentally friendly techniques are nowadays preferred. Among them, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) and pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) with green solvents have been widely applied to natural bioactive compounds extraction. The limitation of the use of pure supercritical CO2 for obtaining antioxidant extracts from Pfaffia glomerata roots was already demonstrated. When high amounts of modifier are added, the formation of a gas-expanded liquid is observed. This extracting solvent combines the advantages of the solvation properties of typical liquids and the transport properties of supercritical fluids, being an intermediate process between SFE and PLE, which can be called as pressurized fluid extraction (PFE). In this work, PFE of Brazilian ginseng (Pfaffia glomerata) roots were performed in order to obtain antioxidant extracts with potential applications in the pharmaceutical and food areas. Several CO2+ethanol mixtures (90:10 %, 50:50 % and 0:100 %, w/w) as extracting fluid were assayed. The effects of other two process parameters including pressure (10-20 MPa) and temperature (323-363 K) on the extraction yield, antioxidant activity and energy consumption per unit of manufactured product were investigated. PFE process was simulated using the SuperPro Designer simulation platform. The use of 10 % (w/w) of ethanol produced extracts with the highest antioxidant activity. On the other hand, higher temperature and ethanol percentage resulted in higher extraction yield and lower energy consumption per unit of manufactured product, while pressure did not affect any response variables. Copyright © 2013, AIDIC Servizi S.r.l.