Oil and protein extraction from fruit seed and kernel by-products using a one pot enzymatic-assisted mild extraction

Veronica Lolli; Pio Viscusi; Francesca Bonzanini; Alessandro Conte; Andrea Fuso; Susanna Larocca; Giulia Leni; Augusta Caligiani

doi:10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100819

Oil and protein extraction from fruit seed and kernel by-products using a one pot enzymatic-assisted mild extraction

Food Chem X. 2023 Jul 31:19:100819. doi: 10.1016/j.fochx.2023.100819. eCollection 2023 Oct 30.

Authors

Veronica Lolli¹, Pio Viscusi¹, Francesca Bonzanini¹, Alessandro Conte¹, Andrea Fuso¹, Susanna Larocca², Giulia Leni^{1

3}, Augusta Caligiani¹

Affiliations

¹ Food and Drug Department, University of Parma, Parma, Italy.
² So.G.I.S. Industria Chimica Spa, Sospiro, CR, Italy.
³ Department for Sustainable Food Process, Faculty of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore, Piacenza, Italy.

Abstract

This research evaluated the application of a one-pot enzymatic extraction by using a protease for the concomitant and sustainable extraction of oils and proteins from fruit seeds/kernels of different species of stone, citrus and exotic fruits. The proteolysis improved the oil solvent-extractability of seeds/kernels of some fruit species compared to the use of acid and/or organic solvents and led to directly recover fat (10-33%) from mango, lemon and pumpkin seeds. Good protein extraction yields were obtained compared to conventional solvent extractions and with a good hydrolysis degree (almost 10%) in the case of lemon and pumpkin seed protein hydrolysates. The nutritional quality of all the protein hydrolysates was quite low, because of their limiting amino acids (histidine, methionine and lysine). On the contrary, the fruit seed/kernel oils resulted with high nutritional value, as they were mostly rich in unsaturated fatty acids, primarily oleic acid (>25%) and linoleic acid (till 40%).

Keywords: Enzymatic-assisted extraction; Fruit processing waste; Kernels; Oil; Protein; Seeds.