Extraction of green absolute from thyme using ultrasound and sunflower oil

Abstract

Absolute is the plant aroma isolate mostly used in the food and fragrance sectors. The use of organic solvents constitutes the most commonly used method for obtaining this aroma. However, this technique may leave trace amounts of solvents which are considered undesirable for these industries. In this work, a new green extraction approach was implemented using ultrasound (US) with sunflower oil (SO) as a natural solvent to produce green absolute from thyme (Thymus vulgaris). US optimal conditions for absolute yield were investigated using response surface methodology (RSM) and compared to conventional SO (SO-CV) and hexane (Hex-CV) extractions. The absolutes were analyzed by GC-MS for their chemical composition and tested for their antioxidant activities (total phenols, DPPH and frying test). Optimized conditions obtained by RSM for absolute yield were T = 50 °C, t = 22 min, P = 98 W. The US using SO as solvent offers important advantages: shorter extraction time, increase of 47% in absolute yield compared to SO-CV extraction. Although the absolute obtained by hexane extraction provided improved yield (8.64 g/100 g DW), it contained around 75% of waxy materials. GC-MS analysis showed no remarkable variation of the chemical composition of the absolutes compared to those obtained by hexane extraction. Moreover, the US extraction allowed the highest recovery of monoterpene phenols thymol and carvacrol (86.2%). The absolute obtained by SO-US was free from waxes and organic solvent residues and exerted the highest antioxidant activity. Results show that ultrasound extraction using SO is a good alternative. It suggests the possibility of the production of green absolutes on pilot and industrial scale.