Recovery of Phenolic Compounds from Jackfruit Seeds Using Subcritical Water Extraction

Area of Science:

• Food Science
• Green Chemistry
• Biotechnology

Background:

• Jackfruit seeds are often discarded as biowaste, posing environmental concerns.
• Jackfruit seeds possess significant nutritional value and contain bioactive compounds like phenolics.
• Valorizing jackfruit seed waste can create value-added products for the food and pharmaceutical industries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To investigate the extraction of phenolic compounds from jackfruit seeds using subcritical water extraction (SWE).
• To correlate the extracted phenolic content with the antioxidant activity (AA) of the extracts.
• To compare SWE with Soxhlet extraction for phenolic compound recovery.

Main Methods:

• Subcritical water extraction (SWE) of phenolic compounds from jackfruit seeds at varying temperatures and times.
• Quantification of total phenolic compounds (TPC) and assessment of antioxidant activity (AA).
• Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) to analyze sample surface morphology post-extraction.

Main Results:

• Optimal extraction conditions using SWE were 210 °C for 30 min with 15% solid loading, yielding 1.84 mg GAE/100 g TPC and 86% AA.
• A strong positive correlation (R² = 0.96) was observed between TPC and AA.
• SWE yielded higher TPC compared to Soxhlet extraction and resulted in increased surface porosity of the jackfruit seed material.

Conclusions:

• Subcritical water extraction is an effective method for recovering phenolic compounds from jackfruit seeds.
• Jackfruit seed extracts exhibit significant antioxidant properties, directly related to their phenolic content.
• The valorization of jackfruit seed waste through SWE offers a sustainable approach for producing valuable ingredients for the food industry, particularly for fortifying dairy and meat products.