Optimization Studies for Selective Recovery of Phenolics from Wine Wastes

Abstract

The objective of the present study was the recovery and selective separation of phenolics from grape marc and lees, two primary wastes from wine-making industry, with solvent extraction method, optimized using One-Factor-at-a-Time method (OFAT) and Response Surface Methodology (RSM). Phenolics from the whole fresh grapes have been studied in previous work, but not the valorization of wine wastes and their phenolic content. Extraction resulted in 19, 15 and 10 mg/g (dry weight) total phenolics with 96%, 87% and 64% antioxidant activity from red, white marc and white lees, respectively. Extracts thus obtained were subsequently treated with several sorbents followed by HCl-desorption. NaOH and CH3OH treated zeolite and aluminum oxide, respectively, performed better, separating phenolics up to 93% from total sugars. The latter resulted in a fraction containing up to 50% of the initial phenolics holding the antioxidant activity (up to 85%) of the initial extract. The results indicate the significance of the applied methodology being fast and low cost for the selective recovery of phenolics from wine wastes.