A green process for nutraceuticals recovery from grape seeds using SC-CO2 and Subcritical Water

The objective of this research was to evaluate the feasibility of utilising a combined SCCO2/Subcritical Water process for oil and phenols recovery from grape seeds, with the aim to set up an integrated extraction process in which environmental friendly and no harmful solvents could be utilised, allowing to produce extracts having high commercial value and similar or better composition and characteristics of those obtained by classical extraction techniques. In particular, after the delipidization step with SC-CO2, that allowed over 99% of oil removal, the research was aimed to study the recovery of the polyphenol moieties from the fat depleted seed matrix, by using subcritical water. The study was conducted and optimised by using Central Composite Design and Response Surface Methodology with respect to specific parameters such as operating temperature and water pH.