A High-Yield Process for Production of Biosugars and Hesperidin from Mandarin Peel Wastes

In this research, novel biorefinery processes for obtaining value-added chemicals such as biosugar and hesperidin from mandarin peel waste (MPW) are described. Herein, three different treatment methods were comparatively evaluated to obtain high yields of biosugar and hesperidin from MPW. Each method was determined by changes in the order of three processing steps, i.e., oil removal, hesperidin extraction, and enzymatic hydrolysis. The order of the three steps was found to have a significant influence on the production yields. Biosugar and hesperidin production yields were highest with method II, where the processing steps were performed in the following order: oil removal, enzymatic hydrolysis, and hesperidin extraction. The maximum yields obtained with method II were 34.46 g of biosugar and 6.48 g of hesperidin per initial 100 g of dry MPW. Therefore, the methods shown herein are useful for the production of hesperidin and biosugar from MPW. Furthermore, the utilization of MPWs as sources of valuable materials may be of considerable economic benefits and has become increasingly attractive.