Enhancing the bioaccessibility of lycopene from tomato processing byproducts via supercritical carbon dioxide extraction
Ali Ubeyitogullari, Ozan N. Ciftci
Abstract
Tomato peel and seed from tomato processing industry are treated as waste; however, they contain lycopene, a high-value bioactive compound. In this study, lycopene was extracted from tomato peel and seed using supercritical carbon dioxide (SC–CO2) and hexane, and the bioaccessibilities of lycopene in the SC-CO2- and hexane-extracted oleoresins were investigated for the first time. The (Z)-lycopene content of the SC-CO2-extracted oleoresin (69%) was higher than that of hexane-extracted oleoresin (45%). Separation of the insoluble fraction from the oleoresins increased the (Z)-lycopene contents of the SC-CO2- and hexane-extracted oil fractions to 80% and 49%, respectively. The bioaccessibility of total-lycopene in the oleoresins was increased by 3.3-fold via SC-CO2 extraction, which was attributed to higher (Z)-lycopene content, and small-sized uniform distribution of lycopene in the oleoresin. SC-CO2 extraction is not only a green method for extraction of bioactive compounds, but also has the potential to improve health benefits of bioactive compounds.