Aplicação da tecnologia supercrítica visando a valorização da casca do fruto do bacuri (Platonia insignis Mart.)

Abstract

The use of agro-industrial waste envisioning its valorization has generated interest from the scientific community and industries. Therefore, this work provides a comprehensive approach to the current state of the art in relation to the use of agro-industrial waste, emphasizing the obtainment of high value-added products through supercritical technology and other environmentally friendly technologies. In addition, the main products generated from the use of agro-industrial residues were reported and discussed in terms of process, feasibility and future perspectives. In this context, bringing to the Amazon scenario and putting into practice the current state of the art, it was decided to apply supercritical technology as a tool for valuing the agro-industrial residue of the bacuri fruit, more specifically its shell, as it is the largest fraction of this fruit, representing up to 70% in mass. Thus, the work aimed to develop a process for separating and/or minimizing the resin that exudes from the bacuri shell, since this is the main barrier to the technological use of this residue. For this, consecutive extraction with supercritical CO2 was applied, where the process parameters such as particle size, pressure and use of cosolvent were studied, in addition to the pre-processing steps. The extracts obtained were analyzed in terms of phenolic compounds and antioxidant activity (ABTS) by spectrophotometric methods. The results showed that the process was able to separate the resin from the bacuri shell, which is the first report described in the literature. Furthermore, the smaller particle size (0.25 mm) exhibited the most prominent impact on extraction rate, providing good yields of lipid extracts (up to 10.09 ± 0.02 %) and ethanoic extracts (up to 13.78 ± 0.41%). The obtained extracts presented good levels of phenolic compounds, which was associated with its high antioxidant activity. Thus, the application of supercritical technology added value to the bacuri shell, enabling new strands for industrial use of this residue with potential applications in the food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries, encouraging the circular economy and the bioeconomy of the Amazon region.