Separation of valuable endogenous components from carrot peel by microwave extraction

With the rapid development of food technology, the amount of by-products generated is proportionally increasing as well. If not reused, by-products can pose a serious problem to our environment. In addition to managing and reusing such by-products, they may be valorised by extraction of valuable endogenous components using a less sophisticated, plain but modern technology such as microwave-assisted extraction. This new technique has been gaining popularity in recent years because compared to conventional methods, microwave-assisted extraction is characterised by shorter extraction times and lower solvent requirements. This preliminary experiment aimed to demonstrate that with the right operating parameters and solvent ratio, this method can be used for the efficient extraction of valuable endogenous components from carrot peels. To quantify the endogenous components, polyphenol content (TPC), antioxidant capacity (FRAP) and carotenoid content were investigated. The findings of this study showed that the optimal valuable substance extraction was obtained at 1:10 peelsolvent ratio at 100 W microwave power for fresh carrot peels, and 1:20 peel-solvent ratio at 800 W microwave power for dried carrot peels