Microencapsulation of lycopene extracted from the agroindustrial waste of the tree tomato (Solanum Betaceum)

Abstract

The extraction and microencapsulation of lycopene from tree tomatoes (Solanum betaceum) were done on an industrial scale by spray drying. The methodology used to obtain the extract was drying at 50 °C for 55 hours until a fine particle size (≤ 250 µm) was accepted, followed by dilution with 96% ethanol and, to obtain the microencapsulation, the extract was mixed with 85% gum arabic and 15% distilled water to pass through an industrial spray dryer of 100 kg/h of water evaporation capacity, using an inlet temperature of 120 °C and an outlet temperature of 80 °C. As a result, both the liquid extract and the microencapsulated extract were characterized, obtaining three batches with an extraction efficiency of batch 1: 48.90 mg/kg, batch 2: 31.10 mg/kg and batch 3: 27.08 mg/kg. A lycopene concentration of 43.78 mg/g, 45.20 mg/g and 43.22 mg/g and a microencapsulation efficiency of 93.61 %, 90.44 % and 96.78 %. The in vivo antioxidant capacity of the microencapsulates was evaluated in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, demonstrating that they have an antioxidant activity similar to that of vitamin C. And by the DPPH method found an inhibition percentage of 48.03 %, 35.07 % and 38.07 % in the 3 batches, respectively. In the morphology of the microcapsules, spheres with smoothness were observed with microcapsule sizes in the order of tens of micrometers (10-70 µm) for their diameter. It is demonstrated that the lycopene microencapsulation process is effective so that it can be introduced at the industrial level. This technology can be implemented in the industry to use the agro-industrial waste of tree tomato peels, providing health benefits for its antioxidant characteristics.