A process to preserve valuable compounds and acquire essential oils from pomelo flavedo using a microwave irradiation treatment. (1st June 2017)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Liu, Zaizhi; Zu, Yuangang; Yang, Lei
• Is Part Of: Food chemistry. Volume 224(2017)
• Page Start: 172
• Page End: 180
• Publication Date: 2017-06-01
• Subjects: Pomelo -- Essential oil -- Pectin -- Naringin -- Limonin -- Microwave pretreatment; Food -- Analysis -- Periodicals; Food -- Composition -- Periodicals; 664
• DOI: 10.1016/j.foodchem.2016.12.027
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0308-8146

Abstract

Highlights: Microwave pretreatment ensured preservation of pectin, naringin and limonin during extraction. Microwave pretreatment inactivated endogenous pomelo flavedo enzymes. Pretreatment and distilling processes of pomelo flavedo were conducted simultaneously. Variations in pectin, naringin and limonin contents were monitored during pretreatment and extraction. Abstract: A microwave pretreatment method was developed to preserve pectin, naringin, and limonin contents in pomelo flavedo to allow for longer storage times and subsequent extraction of pomelo essential oil. In terms of the essential oil, microwave pretreatment performed better than hydrodistillation with respect to extraction efficiency (1.88 ± 0.06% in 24 min versus 1.91 ± 0.08% in 240 min), oxygenation fraction (48.59 ± 1.32% versus 29.63 ± 1.02%), energy consumption (0.15 kW h versus 1.54 kW h), and environmental impact (123.20 g CO2 versus 1232 g CO2 ). Microwave-pretreated samples retained higher amounts of pectin, naringin, and limonin compared with non-pretreated samples. No obvious change in the degree of pectin esterification was observed. This study shows that the proposed process is a promising methodology for both preserving valuable compounds in pomelo flavedo during storage and acquiring essential oils.