Liquefied gas extraction: A new method for the recovery of terpenoids from agroindustrial and forest wastes

• The recovery of terpenoids was performed using a new method with pressurized LPG.
• LPG extraction was at mild conditions, without retention and waste generation.
• Forest and agroindustrial wastes were extracted and analyzed by GC and GC–MS.
• Highest amount of extract was obtained from orange waste, yield of 5.36%.
• LPG showed no decomposition of compounds and high affinity to terpenoids.

Terpenoids are important ingredients in perfumery, and terpene residues have shown potential as new sources of these compounds. This study aimed to apply gas extraction with liquefied petroleum gas (butane/propane) as a clean technology to extract terpenes from agroindustrial and forest wastes. The extracts obtained were characterized by gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (GC–MS), and compared to extracts obtained using traditional organic solvent extraction (hexane and dichloromethane:n-pentane). The oil extraction yields were 5.36% for the orange waste, 2.1% for the apple pomace, 2.32% for the pine needle and 0.6% for the pine wood shavings. The extract obtained using this new method on orange waste contained the highest concentration of limonene (95.32 g/100 g of extract), α-pinene (0.40) and β-pinene (0.23) among all of the solvents as well as the largest extracted amount (0.051 g/g of dry substrate). Based on the GC–MS analyses, the LPG extraction displayed less decomposition or modification of the compounds.

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