Solvent extraction and purification of rosmarinic acid from supercritical fluid extraction fractionation waste: Economic evaluation and scale-up

• A separation methodology of rosmarinic acid (RA) using GRAS solvents was developed.
• The recovery of rosmarinic acid from rosemary waste was assessed.
• A process to obtain bioactive compounds from rosemary leafs was proposed.
• The cost of manufacturing of RA from rosemary growing in Brazil was evaluated.

Industry is increasingly interested in natural food preservatives, antimicrobial, and antioxidants due to their beneficial effects. The use of plant waste also presented itself to be a great opportunity in recovered bioactive compounds remaining in the residue. In this work, bioactive compounds were obtained from Rosmarinus officinalis in two different ways: firstly the supercritical fractionated rosemary extract with different composition was obtained from the plant material, and secondly a potent antioxidant-rosmarinic acid (RA) – was successfully extracted from the plant waste. A purification process scale-up of RA was proposed using GRAS solvent, and an economic evaluation was made for the overall process. A complete process to obtain bioactive compounds, antimicrobial (supercritical fluid extraction and fractionation extraction) and antioxidant (solvent extraction) was developed.

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