Extraction of Cocoa Butter from by-product Cocoa Bean Shells by using SC-CO2 Extraction and Investigation of Flavour Profile and Antioxidant Capacities

Abstract

Recently, sustainability in terms of making the life of humanity permanent is being by far the most important subject. In this study, the production of cocoa bean shell fat, a by-product obtained from supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) extraction, and cocoa butter were compared in terms of antioxidant capacity, fatty acid composition, and flavor profile. In addition, Soxhlet method was used for the comparison of extraction yield. Extract of cocoa bean shell was obtained by supercritical extraction method with 70% yield. Fatty acid composition and flavor profile were determined using Gas Chromatography/Mass Spectrometry (GC-MS) and Dynamic Headspace-GC/MS, respectively. The yield of the cocoa bean shell extract was 4.15% at Soxhlet and 15.09% and 10.31% at SC-CO2 extraction. The fatty acid constituents extracted using SC-CO2 ranged from 23.62% to 23.72% palmitic acid, 30.83% to 31.28% stearic acid, 32.19% to 32.41% oleic acid, and 9.35% to 9.61% linoleic acid. Physicochemical properties and fatty acid composition of SC-CO2 extracted cocoa bean shell fats content were found to be comparable to that of commercial cocoa butter. Antioxidant capacity of the obtained extract in terms of β-carotene linoleic acid method and total phenolic content were found to be lower than that of cocoa butter.