Scholarly record

EXTRACTION OF ANTIOXIDANTS FROM ONION BY-PRODUCTS USING ECO-FRIENDLY SOLVENTS

Cristina Damian

Abstract

Food processing wastes are the end products of the food processing industries which cannot be recycled or used for other purposes. These are the non-product flows of raw materials whose economic values are less than the cost of collection and recovery for reuse; and therefore discard as a waste. These wastes pose increasing disposal and potential severe pollution problems and represent a loss of valuable biomass and nutrients. Onion solid wastes (OSW) were used as raw material to produce polyphenol and extracts with antioxidant activity. In this study, the antioxidant property of 20% ethanol, 40% ethanol, 60% ethanol, 80% ethanol, 100% ethanol and aqueous extracts of onion (Allium cepa L.) byproducts were measured using in vitro assays. Among the onion byproducts extracts tested, the 80% ethanol extract showed the best DPPH radical scavenging power. The extracts in question exhibited total phenolic contents ranging from 171,9 to 453,2 mg GAE/g of extract. The recovery of value-added substances from onion wastes is an issue with importance pertaining to both the reduction of the waste load released to the environment, and the development of novel, natural food additives with functional properties.

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