Marcelo M. R. de Melo

• PhD in Chemical Engineering
• Head of R&D; Extraction Unit Manager at Cannprisma

tThe supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of Eucalyptus globulus deciduous bark is investigated, under thecontext of biorefinery, aiming at the definition of a pathway for the production of enriched extracts intriterpenic acids (TTAs). Scale-up studies are performed, well supported by modeling and by experimentscarried out at lab, intermediate and...

Along more than a decade, R&D on supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of vegetable matrices has been increasingly reported in the literature. Aiming at portraying the current state of this field and its evolution in terms of raw materials, products, modes of operation, optimization, modeling techniques, and closeness to industrial application, a la...

The production of medical cannabis in compliance with the guidelines of Good Manufacturing Practice requires a science-based control strategy for the process. In this work, we hypothesized that industrial tray drying process of cannabis inflorescences can be achieved through an accurate selection and fitting of mechanistic models. In total, three i...

Spent coffee grounds (SCGs) are a promising substrate that can be valorized by biotechnological processes, such as for short-chain organic acid (SCOA) production, but their complex structure implies the application of a pretreatment step to increase their biodegradability. Physicochemical pretreatments are widely studied but have multiple drawbacks...

Acidogenic fermentation (AF) is often applied to wastes to produce short-chain organic acids (SCOAs)—molecules with applications in many industries. Spent coffee grounds (SCGs) are a residue from the coffee industry that is rich in carbohydrates, having the potential to be valorized by this process. However, given the recalcitrant nature of this wa...

This work addresses the potential of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) to design volatile organic compounds (VOCs) profiles using roasted Coffea arabica. On the whole, 57 VOCs were identified by HS‐SPME/GC–MS. A full factorial design was adopted to study the effect of pressure (180 and 300 bar), temperature (40 and 80 °C) and ethanol content (0...

Aurantiochytrium sp. is an emerging alternative source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), docosahexaenoic acid (DHA), and squalene, playing an important role in the phasing out of traditional fish sources for these compounds. Novel lipid extraction techniques with a focus on sustainability and low environmental footprint are being developed fo...

While Aurantiochytrium sp. is an increasingly popular source of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs), its extraction generates high amounts of waste, including the spent, defatted residue. The composition and bioactivities of this by-product could prove to be a major part of the sustainable valorisation of this organism within the framework of a cir...

The management of invasive species generates large amounts of biomass which end up in low value applications. However, these residues can potentially contain compounds with important bioactive properties. In this study the bark of Acacia dealbata Link (Fabaceae) was extracted by different methods targeting triterpenoids content and bulk product. Ba...

Forestry biomass is a by-product which commonly ends up being burnt for energy generation, despite comprising valuable bioactive compounds with valorisation potential. Leaves of Acacia dealbata were extracted for the first time by supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using different conditions of pressure, temperature and cosolvents. Total extracti...

Eucalyptus globulus leaves can be a source of differentiated essential oil and extracted oleoresin products based on the wise choice of extraction methods, solvents and operating conditions. Accordingly, we performed 36 experimental assays combining extraction techniques (Soxhlet, batch solid-liquid extraction — SLE, supercritical fluid extraction,...

Leaves from Vitis vinifera L. contain potential bioactive compounds, namely: long chain aliphatic alcohols (e.g., 1-hexacosanol, 1-octacosanol and 1-triacontanol), α-tocopherol, β-sitosterol, and the triterpenes β-amyrin and lupeol. Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) runs were measured at lab scale using: crushed and ground biomass; pure CO2 at 3...

The microalgae Aurantiochytrium sp. is a strong alternative source of ω-3 fatty acids, including docosahexaenoic acid (DHA). This work encompasses the optimization of SFE conditions to maximize the total extraction yield ηTotal, DHA content (CDHA), total phenolics content (TPC), and antioxidant capacity (AOC) of the extracts produced from Aurantioc...

Optimization of the supercritical fluid extraction of Quercus cerris cork was carried out using Box-Behnken design of experiments and response surface methodology (RSM). The optimized process variables were temperature (T: 40, 50 and 60 °C), ethanol content (EtOH: 0.0, 2.5 and 5.0 wt%) and CO2 flow rate (QCO2: 5, 8 and 11 gmin-1). The studied respo...

This work encompasses a comparison of the extraction of Quercus cerris cork with methanol, ethanol, dichloromethane, and petroleum ether by Soxhlet and room temperature batch solid-liquid extraction (SLE) and with supercritical carbon dioxide modified with ethanol. The maximum total extraction yield (ηTotal) was attained by Soxhlet extraction with...

This work addresses economic and process aspects of the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of Eucalyptus globulus bark at industrial scale. Broken plus intact cells (BIC) model was applied to existing data and new SFE curves were simulated. Then, statistical optimization was performed with Response Surface Methodology (RSM) involving of 5 factors...

Extracts of Eucalyptus globulus leaves were produced and characterized aiming their enrichment in natural bioactive compounds such as triterpenic acids (TTAs). Soxhlet (methanol, ethanol and dichloromethane) and supercritical (CO2 with/without ethanol) extractions performed under different conditions were assessed by the total extraction yield, TTA...

Spent coffee grounds (SCG) and coffee silverskins (CSS) are two high-volume industrial by-products rich in valuable components, such as alkaloids, diterpenic, and phenolic compounds, triglycerides (oils), and polysaccharides. Their recovery yield and purity are highly dependent on the selected extraction method and operating conditions. This chapte...

Supercritical fluid extraction of Eucalyptus globulus leaves was accomplished using carbon dioxide at different pressures (200, 250 and 300 bar) and ethanol contents (0.0, 2.5 and 5.0 wt%), with and without biomass pretreatment (grinding or dewaxing), with the objective to study total (ηTotal) and triterpenic acids (ηTTA) extraction yields. A facto...

Turkish oak (Quercus cerris) cork is an interesting source of friedelin, a bioactive triterpenoid. In this work, the supercritical fluid extraction of Q. cerris cork was carried out in order to measure cumulative curves for both total and friedelin extraction yields ( and ). The influence of particle size and ethanol (CO2 modifier) content were ass...

Roasting is one of the most influencing stages of coffee processing. Accordingly, a discriminant analysis (DA) was carried out with the objective of identifying key compounds (chemical markers) that enable a differentiation of coffee samples according to their roasting degree. For this, chromatographic data of the volatile fraction of 21 coffee sam...

Coffee quality is highly dependent on geographical factors. Based on the chemical characterization of 25 coffee samples from worldwide provenances and same roasting degree, Discriminant Analysis (DA) was employed to develop models that are able to identify the continental or country (Brazil) provenance of blind coffee samples. These models are base...

The current chapter is structured as follows: Section 11.2 covers the basics of SFE technology, namely the SCFs (Section 11.2.1), operating conditions (Section 11.2.2) and the typical layouts of SFE units (Section 11.2.3). Then, process and natural products improvements based on SFE technology (Section 11.3) are discussed through the following topi...

The quality control of coffee and related products needs to consider several factors that are known to play important roles in the final organoleptic characteristics perceived by the consumers. The aroma exhibited by a coffee is determined by variables such as climate, soil, coffee species/variety, post-havest processing and the quality of the bean...

Water hyacinth (Eichornia crassipes) is an invasive aquatic plant that has recently been showed to have a remarkable abundance of stigmasterol in leaves and stalks. The supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of E. crassipes parts was performed for the first time in this work, covering total yield (ηtotal), stigmasterol yield (ηstig), and its concentr...

SFE curves of Eichhornia crassipes are measured for different pressure (200, 250, and 300 bar), ethanol content (0 and 5 wt.%), and CO2 flow rate (5.0, 7.5 and 10.0 ) conditions, and studied in terms of total ( ) and stigmasterol ( ) extraction yields. Ethanol addition was able to increase total yield up to 60% within the 6 hours of extraction, rea...

Eichhornia crassipes is an invasive plant whose individual morphological parts (roots, stalks, leaves, flowers) were studied for the first time in terms of polar and lipophilic extractives. The former attained yields between 10.0% (wt.), for roots, and 28.84% (wt.), for stalks. Concerning lipophilic extracts, 29 compounds were identified by GC-MS a...

The supercritical extraction of stalks and leaves of Eichhornia crassipes was carried out using pure and modified carbon dioxide. Preliminary results evidenced that the influence of temperature is weaker than pressure and ethanol content, and thus a design of experiments was performed in the ranges of 200-300 bar and 0.0-5.0 wt.% ethanol. The optim...

Moringa oleifera tree is found in many tropical areas, and its seed contains up to 40% of good quality edible oil where sterols are also present. In this work a techno-economic study encompassing the coproduction of oil and sterols from M. oleifeira seeds was accomplished using the RSM-COM approach. The oil is produced by subcritical fluid extracti...

Gac (Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng) is a traditional fruit from Southeast Asia whose aril oil has been investigated owing to the remarkable abundance of oil and carotenes (e.g. β-carotene and lycopene). In this context, supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) using CO2 is an option for the exploitation of this raw material. In this work a hybrid ap...

Lycopene is an important carotenoid present in the large volumes of tomato residues generated annually. Its SFE was studied here with two main objectives: optimization of operating conditions and selection of supercritical solvent (CO2 versus ethane). Accordingly, a hybrid approach using the response surface methodology and cost of manufacturing (C...

This work addresses scientific and techno-economic aspects of supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of spent coffee grounds which are of interest under the biorefinery context. Soxhlet experiments were carried out and SFE curves were measured at 190 bar and 40 °C/55 °C. The extracts were characterized by GC-FID, and the tryacylglicerides profiles we...

The reported work aimed at the optimization of operating conditions of the supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) of spent coffee grounds (SCG) using pure or modified CO2, with particular emphasis on oil enrichment with diterpenes like kahweol, cafestol and 16-O-methylcafestol. The analysis comprised the application of Box–Behnken design of experimen...

Supercritical fluid extraction has been increasingly investigated in food, pharmaceutical, cosmetic and additives fields, since its green character highly suits biorefinery and sustainable challenges. In this context, the valorization of waste and side vegetable products is specifically addressed here, with emphasis on combined and hybrid supercrit...

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has been a widely studied green technology to obtain oil and bioactive compounds from grape residues like seed, skin, pomace (marc). In this chapter, research advances regarding the SFE of grape residues are covered, particularly the optimization of operating conditions, modeling, scale-up and preliminary econom...

Supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) has been a widely studied green technology to obtain triterpenoids (TT) enriched extracts from various vegetable matrices. In this review, research advances regarding the SFE of TT in terms of biomass sources, operating conditions and their optimization, and modelling are covered. As in other applications of th...

The supercritical CO2 extraction of E. globulus deciduous bark was carried out at different temperatures (40–60 °C), pressures (100–200 bar), and ethanol contents (0.0–5.0 wt. %) to study triterpenic acids (TTAs) recovery. A factorial design of experiments and response surface methodology were implemented to analyze the influence of these variables...

Eucalyptus globulus bark is an interesting source of triterpenic acids (TTAs), mainly ursolic, betulinic, oleanolic, betulonic, 3-acetylursolic, and 3-acetyloleanolic acids, which possess confirmed bioactivity. In this work, the supercritical fluid extraction of E. globulus bark has been carried out in order to measure the cumulative curves in term...

Eucalyptus globulus bark contains four significant families of compounds, namely triterpenic (TT) acids (betulinic, betulonic, oleanolic and ursolic acids, and the acetylated forms of the latter two), long chain aliphatic alcohols, fatty acids, and sterols. The first group is the most abundant and possesses demonstrated bioactivity, which raises th...