Application of liquid biphasic flotation for betacyanins extraction from peel and flesh of Hylocereus polyrhizus and antioxidant activity evaluation

This study investigated the use of liquid biphasic flotation (LBF) which composed of alcohol and salt for betacyanins extraction from peel and flesh of red-purple pitaya (Hylocereus polyrhizus). Betacyanins have received a great deal of research attention owing to their promising antioxidant activity. The operating parameters of LBF, including types/concentrations/volumes of alcohol and salt, addition of sodium chloride, flotation time and types/concentrations of crude extract, were adopted for the betacyanins extraction. Overall, the highest values of betacyanins concentration in alcohol-rich top phase (Ct), separation efficiency (E) and partition coefficient (K) of betacyanins that reveal a maximum betacyanins extraction from the peel (95.989%, 88.361% and 24.168, respectively) and flesh (95.488%, 94.886% and 21.195, respectively) were successfully achieved with LBF. In addition, both the peel and flesh extracts of red-purple pitaya provided different hues and intensities of red color, and their antioxidant properties were well retained