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Description
The valorization of berry pomace (aronia, blueberry, blackberry, raspberry) as a secondary raw material rich in biologically active compounds has become an attractive topic in recent years.1 Circular economy principles are driving numerous studies aimed at finding ways to transform this industrial by-product into a raw material for various applications.
In this study, the extraction of anthocyanin pigments, present in high concentrations in these samples, was approached using novel solvents prepared on the principles of green chemistry. Several different solvents with the properties of deep eutectic systems (DESs) were prepared, and the most chemically stable ones were selected for the extraction experiments. For the solvent preparation, choline chloride, choline dihydrogen citrate, and sodium acetate were used as hydrogen bond acceptors (HBAs), while glycerol and polyethylene glycol were used as hydrogen bond donors (HBDs). The efficiency of the tested solvents was compared to that of methanol used in the conventional extraction method performed on the same samples.2,3 In both cases, anthocyanin quantification was carried out using UV/VIS spectrometry.
Obtained results showed significant improvement of extraction efficiency, compared to the control sample: the highest extraction efficiency was achieved for blackberry samples using the choline chloride/polyethylene glycol solvent system.
The results of this study confirm that the proposed solvent systems are promising extraction tools that can significantly contribute to reducing the food industry's environmental footprint and fostering sustainable resource management.