Novel chitosan/alginate hydrogels as carriers of phenolic-enriched extracts from saffron floral by-products using natural deep eutectic solvents as green extraction media

Authors

Débora Cerdá-Bernad¹ , Ioanna Pitterou² , Andromachi Tzani² , Anastasia Detsi² , María José Frutos¹

1. Miguel Hernádez University
2. National Technical University of Athens

Conference / event

4th SEKI E-conferences: Food Texture, Quality Safety and Biosecurity in the Global Bioeconomy, November 2021 (Virtual)

Poster summary

TThe current saffron production system is generating several tons of tepal waste, because only stigmas are used for food. The main aim of this study was to develop innovative green extraction processes from saffron floral by-products by using Natural Deep Eutectic Solvents (NaDES) and ultrasound-assisted extraction. Response surface methodology was used to optimize process parameters. To improve the stability of the optimal extracts, they were incorporated into chitosan/alginate hydrogels, studying the impact on the total phenolic content (TPC) during the in vitro digestion. The results indicated that the optimal extraction, regarding bioactive content, was achieved in 20 min, using 180 W ultrasound power and 90% of NaDES, and the TPC remained stable under intestinal conditions in the chitosan/alginate hydrogels. Therefore, NaDES combined with UAE was an efficient technique to isolate high added-value compounds from saffron flowers, succeeding also the valorization of discarded waste by using green and low-cost strategies.

Keywords

NaDES, Sustainability, Crocus sativus L., Environmental impact, Bioactive compounds, Green chemistry

Research areas

Chemical Engineering

References

1. Débora Cerdá-Bernad, Ioanna Pitterou, Andromachi Tzani, Anastasia Detsi, María José Frutos, “Novel chitosan/alginate hydrogels as carriers of phenolic-enriched extracts from saffron floral by-products using natural deep eutectic solvents as green extraction media”, Current Research in Food Science, Volume 6, 2023, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.crfs.2023.100469.

Funding

1. Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean Area (PRIMA) program, (No. Project SAFFROMFOOD)

Supplemental files

No data provided

Additional information

Competing interests

No competing interests were disclosed.

Data availability statement

The datasets generated during and / or analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Creative Commons license

Copyright © 2023 Cerdá-Bernad et al. This is an open access work distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.