Acoustic Cavitation-Driven Extraction of Ginger Phytochemicals: Modeling, Optimization and Bioactivity Evaluation

Area of Science:

• Green Chemistry
• Process Intensification
• Natural Product Extraction

Background:

• Ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) is a key process intensification strategy for recovering phytochemicals.
• Optimization of UAE often lacks mechanistic understanding of solvent-cavitation interactions.
• Ginger rhizome is a valuable source of bioactive compounds for various industries.

Purpose of the Study:

• To develop a mechanistically informed and statistically optimized UAE method for ginger rhizome.
• To investigate the influence of solvent composition and extraction parameters on yield and bioactivity.
• To compare the efficiency of optimized UAE with Soxhlet extraction.

Main Methods:

• Utilized a Box-Behnken design for response surface methodology (RSM) optimization.
• Evaluated effects of solvent ratio, composition, and time on yield, antioxidant activity, TPC, and FC.
• Employed GC-Q-TOF-MS for phytochemical profiling and compared UAE with Soxhlet extraction.

Main Results:

• Achieved an optimized extraction yield of 33.22% using ethanol-water solvent systems.
• Solvent composition was the dominant factor, with water-rich systems enhancing yield via cavitation and hydration.
• Optimized conditions yielded high antioxidant activity, total phenolic content (TPC), and flavonol content (FC).

Conclusions:

• Mechanistically informed UAE provides significant improvements in extraction efficiency and bioactivity retention.
• Optimized UAE using water-rich ethanol-water systems is a scalable and sustainable method.
• This approach offers practical guidelines for utilizing UAE in food, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic applications.