Abstract:

As a novel technique which helps achieve the extraction of bioactive substances from botanic materials under room temperature, ultra high pressure (UHP) extraction is an attractive alternative to conventional techniques that include microwave extraction, ultrasonic extraction, supercritical extraction, etc due to time saving, low energy consumption and impurity dissolution, and high extraction efficiency. Therefore, this technique was also applied to the extraction of lycopene from tomato skin in this study. The optimal UHP extraction process was investigated for maximizing lycopene yield using orthogonal array design based on single factor experiments, where the effects of UHP pressure level, holding time, solid/liquid ratio and extraction number on lycopene yield were examined. Results showed that a maximum lycopene yield of 83.2% was obtained through the triplicate extraction at a solid/liquid ratio of 1:10 (g/mL) enhanced by UHP treatment at 300 MPa pressure level held for 5 min.

Key words: ultra high pressure, tomato skin, lycopene, extraction technology