Extraction of valuable components From underutilized fruits and Fruit wastes

Abstract

The essential nutrients that are present in fruits are responsible for maintaining good health. Since consuming the fruits as a part of an overall healthy diet are likely to have a reduced risk of some chronic diseases. Tropical countries like India are blessed with cultivation of fruits such as banana, mango, guava, citrus, apple, pineapple, papaya, and grapes whichare rich in nutritional ingredients.Though there are varieties of fruits available, consuming fruits remains a privilege that many people cannot afford on regular basis. Besides, there are many underutilized fruits available that are highly nutritious with health benefits. Apart from being underutilized, large amount of fruit wastes were generated throughout the year which contains plethora of nutrients.Phenolic compounds are the main phytochemicals found in fruits and fruit wastes with abundant nutritional values. The intake of these compounds is an important health-protecting factor.Therefore, the present study is undertaken to investigate the extraction of valuable compounds from underutilized fruits viz., (wood apple pulp and prickly pear peel) and pomegranate fruit waste (peel), to identify the phytochemicals present in the extracts obtained from wood apple pulp, prickly pear peel and pomegranate peel using conventional (soxhlet and solvent extraction) and novel extraction technique (UAE) and to study the influence of extraction process variables and its optimization using response surface methodology for maximum yield of phenolic compounds. The phenolic compounds were extracted from wood apple (Liminia acidissima L) pulp using three different extraction techniques (Soxhlet, Solvent (SE) and Ultrasound Assisted Extraction (UAE) and two different alcoholic solvents (methanol and ethanol). newline