Question

Is it possible to replace the use of ethanol with deep eutectic solvent (DES) in the purification/extraction of phenolic compounds from fruit peels?

Answer 1

Deep Eutectic Solvents can be used in principle for extracting phenolic compounds. Though it remains a point of curious investigation at R&D level if this can be feasibly implemented at a wide scale to extract such compounds from fruit peels.

There have been successful lab and pilot scale experiments where a DES has been used to extract phenolic compounds from olive pomace, banana peels as well as a mix of domestic wastes. Though such an extraction is typically assisted by an auxiliary measure such as homogenization of differential pH environments. Mass scale extraction is not yet reported in the available literature.