Mangiferin and flavonoids production from mango peel residues by innovative extraction-separation process

Abstract

Brazil is the seventh largest mango producer in the world and São Paulo state accounts for 45% of the national production. Processing of mango leads generation of 20-40% w/w of the fruit waste (peels and kernel). The main compounds in peels are phenolic compounds (tannins, flavonoids and xanthones), natural pigments (carotenes and anthocyanin) and biopolymers (pectin, cellulose and lignin). Mango peel extracts were investigated for potential biological activities, however, few economic initiatives has been targeted to recover the mango waste, such as biofuels production, burning pellets, flour and livestock feed. In this view, NatChrom comes up with an innovative technology for producing of phytochemicals through an efficient and competitive extraction-separation process that will be used in the utilization of mango agroindustrial waste into high added value inputs. The proposal has as experimental strategy: i) to demonstrate the technological viability and scientific viability of the recent online extraction-separation system from the analytical scale to the preparative scale up; ii) produce enriched flavonoid fractions and mangiferin from mango residue as proof of concept of the developed technology. The mango peels of Tommy Atkins variety will be supplied to an established partner company and after extraction-separation of the phytochemicals, the resulting polymeric waste will be returned to the partner company and pellets will be produced for power generation. The impact of the developed process will be compared with conventional methods and evaluated using a green metric. Thus, NatChrom has great potential to offer phytochemical with high purity to cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food companies. The utilization of mango peel in bio-products and bioenergy, in biorefinery and bio-based economy concepts will reduce environmental impacts when compared to traditional methods such as landfill, incineration and feedstock. (AU)