EXTRACTION OF FLAVANOLS AND ALKALOIDS FROM COCOA SHELL USING ETHANOL AND ISOPROPANOL AS SOLVENTS

In cocoa processing a large amount of by-products is generated such as cocoa shells (CS) which is nowadays treated as waste and used as fuel for boilers. The valorization of agricultural by-products is increasing due to the scarcity of natural resources, so a nobler application is sought for the CS that presents an interesting composition due to the presence of flavanols and alkaloids, along with its significant content of lipids, proteins and fibers. The objective of this work was to characterize the CS, kindly provided by cocoa processing company (Brazil), in terms of composition in flavanols (catechin, epicatechin and procyanidin B2) and alkaloids (caffeine and theobromine) and to evaluate the efficiency of simultaneous extraction of these biocompounds and lipids using ethanol and isopropanol in absolute and azeotropic degrees (ET0, ET6, IPA0 and IPA12, respectively) as solvents, under the following extraction conditions: 75 and 90 °C, solid:solvent mass ratio of 1:3 and condition of stationary state for 3 hours. The biocompounds were quantified by UPLC-MS/MS analysis, being able to verify that CS has a large amount of flavanols and alkaloids. The main biocompounds found per gram of CS were epicatechin (2.5 ± 0.2 mg) and theobromine (8.11 ± 0.09 mg), indicating an antioxidant potential. The extraction of lipids using alcoholic solvents provided simultaneous extraction of the flavanols and alkaloids present in the CS obtaining extraction yields from 36 to 70% and 10 to 73% of total lipids and biocompounds presents in the CS, respectively. The increase in temperature and hydration favored extraction for all compounds, with the exception of epicatechin and procyanidin B2 using IPA0 at 90 °C. In this way, the method used proved to be feasible for the simultaneous extraction, resulting in good extraction yields of flavanols, alkaloids and lipids, indicating the possibility of applying CS in value-added products.