Integrated process extraction-adsorption for selective recovery of antioxidant phenolics from Aronia melanocarpa berries

Integration of extraction and adsorption processes for selective recovery of antioxidant phenolics from Aronia melanocarpa berries was studied. Studies on adsorption and desorption steps enabled to select the most efficient adsorbent among tested and to define relevant experimental conditions for both steps regarding polyphenols recovery and antioxidant activity preservation. Up to 82% of total polyphenols, up to 92% of total anthocyanins and up to 84% of antioxidant capacity of Aronia extracts were recovered using XAD 7HP resin. The proposed new integrated process extraction-adsorption provided simultaneous extraction of phenolics and their purification in a single operation. In this way, products of high quality were obtained in a simple eco-friendly process with low consumption of time and energy. The integrated process extraction-adsorption allowed to enrich the native Aronia extracts up to 17 times in polyphenols and 15 times in anthocyanins. Comparing this integrated process to extraction and adsorption conducted successively, a clear positive impact of integration was observed, namely more than 25% enhancement of the extraction yields of Aronia phenolics and more than twice increase of the process productivity. (C) 2013 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.