Standardization of Solvent Extraction Process for Lycopene Extraction from Tomato Pomace

Abstract

Tomato skins can be a viable source of lycopene. Industrial production of lycopene from tomatoes appears to be in high demand by food companies for the development of functional foods. Majority of companies that are into the business of manufacturing fruit extracts, prefer conventional solvent extraction method. Solvent extraction is extremely efficient with carotenoids (lycopene and β-carotene) with a total of carotenoids recovery of 96%. The optimization of the solvent extraction process for the maximum recovery of lycopene from tomato pomace was carried out by selecting the suitable solvent system, temperature-time combination and feed to solvent ratio, i.e. Acetone: Ethyl acetate (1:1), 40°C/5hr and 1:30(w/v). The maximum lycopene was extracted using optimized solvent extraction process and had the lycopene content 611.105mg/100g, refractive index1.37604 and colour value 5.59L*, 8.00a*, 6.14b*. The storage of lycopene extract at refrigerated condition was found safe for maintaining its lycopene content. There was just 2.6% reduction in lycopene content after 60 days of storage at refrigerated condition.