Sustainable Encapsulation of Cambuci Bioactives via Supercritical-Assisted Atomization

The valorization of agro-industrial waste, such as cambuci fruit, is a sustainable strategy to mitigate environmental impacts and add economic value. The goal was to utilize the often-discarded cambuci peel, extract the bioactive compounds, and obtain high-value-added products. The extract was obtained by using a 70% ethanol solution in water. Given the sensitivity to the light and heat of the obtained extract, the supercritical-assisted atomization (SAA) technique was used for encapsulation, varying the extract to PVP ratios (1:2, 1:5, 1:10, and 1:15). The SAA system involved mixing liquid CO₂ and the extract/PVP, followed by atomization in a precipitation chamber. The best results obtained in this study were achieved with an extract-to-PVP ratio of 1:15, which yielded the highest value (72%) and the highest levels of antioxidant capacity (142.83 μmol of Trolox/g of cambuci) and total phenolic compounds (69.94 mg of GAE/g of cambuci). Furthermore, the particles produced at this ratio had an average size of 1.17 μm with a relatively homogeneous size distribution. Moreover, after 5 months, the encapsulated cambuci exhibited better conservation of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity compared with the cambuci extract stored under the same conditions. The use of Path2Green showed that this production process more closely adheres to green chemistry principles compared with two similar processes documented in the literature. These findings demonstrate that encapsulation with PVP, achieved through the SAA process, effectively preserves bioactive compounds and produces spherical, stable particles suitable for use in the nutraceutical and pharmaceutical industries, aligning with sustainability goals.