Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Oils from Cactus Opuntia ficus-indica L. and Opuntia dillenii Seeds

Ghanya Al-Naqeb; Cinzia Cafarella; Eugenio Aprea; Giovanna Ferrentino; Alessandra Gasparini; Chiara Buzzanca; Giuseppe Micalizzi; Paola Dugo; Luigi Mondello; Francesca Rigano

doi:10.3390/foods12030618

Supercritical Fluid Extraction of Oils from Cactus Opuntia ficus-indica L. and Opuntia dillenii Seeds

Foods. 2023 Feb 1;12(3):618. doi: 10.3390/foods12030618.

Authors

Ghanya Al-Naqeb^{1

2}, Cinzia Cafarella³, Eugenio Aprea¹, Giovanna Ferrentino⁴, Alessandra Gasparini⁴, Chiara Buzzanca³, Giuseppe Micalizzi³, Paola Dugo^{3

5}, Luigi Mondello^{3

5

6}, Francesca Rigano³

Affiliations

¹ Center Agriculture Food Environment (C3A), University of Trento, 38098 Trento, Italy.
² Department of Food Sciences and Nutrition, Faculty of Agriculture Food and Environment, University of Sana'a, Sana'a P.O. Box 1247, Yemen.
³ Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, Italy.
⁴ Faculty of Science and Technology, Free University of Bozen-Bolzano, Piazza Università 5, 39100 Bolzano, Italy.
⁵ Chromaleont s.r.l., c/o, Department of Chemical, Biological, Pharmaceutical and Environmental Sciences, University of Messina, 98168 Messina, Italy.
⁶ Unit of Food Science and Nutrition, Department of Medicine, University Campus Bio-Medico of Rome, 00128 Rome, Italy.

Abstract

This study aimed to assess the capability of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) as an alternative and green technique compared to Soxhlet extraction for the production of oils from Opuntia ficus-indica (OFI) seeds originating from Yemen and Italy and Opuntia dillenii (OD) seeds from Yemen. The following parameters were used for SFE extraction: a pressure of 300 bar, a CO₂ flow rate of 1 L/h, and temperatures of 40 and 60 °C. The chemical composition, including the fatty acids and tocopherols (vitamin E) of the oils, was determined using chromatographic methods. The highest yield was achieved with Soxhlet extraction. The oils obtained with the different extraction procedures were all characterized by a high level of unsaturated fatty acids. Linoleic acid (≤62% in all samples) was the most abundant one, followed by oleic and vaccenic acid. Thirty triacylglycerols (TAGs) were identified in both OFI and OD seed oils, with trilinolein being the most abundant (29-35%). Vanillin, 4-hydroxybenzaldehyde, vanillic acid, and hydroxytyrosol were phenols detected in both OFI and OD oils. The highest γ-tocopherol content (177 ± 0.23 mg/100 g) was obtained through the SFE of OFI seeds from Yemen. Overall, the results highlighted the potential of SFE as green technology to obtain oils suitable for functional food and nutraceutical products.

Keywords: Opuntia dillenii; Opuntia ficus-indica L.; antioxidant activity; chemical characterization; supercritical fluid extraction.

Grants and funding

This work was supported by the Open Access Publishing Fund of the Free University of Bozen-Bolzano. Part of this article was supported by the Scholar at Risk (SAR), University of Trento fund number Fondo ricerca AR SAR-finanz. CARITRO.