High potential extracts from cocoa byproducts through sonotrode optimal extraction and a comprehensive...

Area of Science:

• Agricultural Science
• Food Science
• Analytical Chemistry

Background:

• Cocoa pod husk (CPH) and cocoa bean shell (CBS) are abundant agricultural by-products.
• These by-products contain valuable bioactive compounds with potential commercial applications.
• Valorizing CPH and CBS supports circular economy principles by reducing waste.

Purpose of the Study:

• To recover bioactive compounds from CPH and CBS using sonoextraction.
• To determine the type, content, and antioxidant activity of the optimized extracts.
• To optimize extraction conditions for maximum bioactive compound recovery.

Main Methods:

• Sonoextraction process utilized for bioactive compound recovery.
• Box-Behnken Design coupled with response surface methodology (RSM) for optimization.
• Liquid Chromatography-Electrospray Ionization-Quadrupole Time-of-Flight Mass Spectrometry (LC-ESI-qTOF-MS) for compound identification.

Main Results:

• Optimized extraction conditions: 15 min, 80% amplitude, 50% ethanol.
• High antioxidant activity in CBS extract (TPC: 193 mg GAE/g, TEAC: 1.02 mmol TE/g, FRAP: 1.02 mmol FeSO4/g, ORAC: 2.6 mmol TE/g).
• CPH extract showed significant activity (TPC: 48 mg GAE/g, TEAC: 0.30 mmol TE/g, FRAP: 0.35 mmol FeSO4/g, ORAC: 0.43 mmol TE/g).
• LC-ESI-qTOF-MS identified 79 compounds in total (39 in CBS, 40 in CPH).

Conclusions:

• Sonoextraction is an efficient and rapid method for recovering bioactive substances from CBS and CPH.
• The recovered compounds possess notable antioxidant properties.
• This approach offers a sustainable method for valorizing cocoa processing by-products.