IDEAS home Printed from https://ideas.repec.org/a/gam/jeners/v17y2024i16p4119-d1459143.html
   My bibliography  Save this article

Investigation of the Effects of Energy-Efficient Drying Techniques and Extraction Methods on the Bioactive and Functional Activity of Banana Inflorescence

Author

Listed:
  • Nuwanthi Senevirathna

    (School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia
    Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia)

  • Morteza Hassanpour

    (School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia
    Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia)

  • Ian O’Hara

    (School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia
    Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia
    ARC Industrial Transformation Training Centre for Biopolymers and Biocomposites, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia
    ARC Centre of Excellence in Synthetic Biology, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia)

  • Azharul Karim

    (School of Mechanical, Medical and Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia
    Centre for Agriculture and the Bioeconomy, Faculty of Science, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane 4000, Australia)

Abstract

Plant-derived foods with therapeutic potential have strong connection with both the pharmaceutical and nutraceutical industries. The effectiveness of these therapeutic properties is heavily influenced by the thermal treatment during drying and extraction methods. Traditional convective drying is a very energy incentive and lengthy process. Although some advanced and hybrid drying methods have been developed, these have not been applied in drying of banana inflorescence. In this study, we investigated the effects of freeze-drying (FD) and intermittent microwave convective drying (IMCD), as well as traditional convective oven drying (CD), on the polyphenol profile of banana inflorescence when extracted using the energy-efficient Accelerated Solvent Extraction method (ASE). Our findings revealed that the freeze-dried banana inflorescence powder exhibited the highest extraction of bioactive compounds when using 75% methanol at 100 °C as a solvent. It recovered 2906.3 ± 20.83 mg/100 g of the phenolic compounds and 63.12 ± 0.25% antioxidant activity under the optimal extraction conditions. While IMCD was found to be the second-best drying method in terms of preserving bioactive compounds, its operational time and cost were significantly lower compared to freeze-drying. Furthermore, our study confirmed the presence of medicinal compounds such as gallic acid, protocatechuic acid, caffeic acid, coumaric acid, catechin, ferulic acid, kaempferol, and quercetin in banana inflorescence. The development of innovative functional foods and pharmaceutical ingredients through green extraction methods and optimal drying conditions holds significant potential to save energy in the process, enhance human health, and promote environmental sustainability and circular economy processes. These efforts align with supporting Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 3 and 12.

Suggested Citation

  • Nuwanthi Senevirathna & Morteza Hassanpour & Ian O’Hara & Azharul Karim, 2024. "Investigation of the Effects of Energy-Efficient Drying Techniques and Extraction Methods on the Bioactive and Functional Activity of Banana Inflorescence," Energies, MDPI, vol. 17(16), pages 1-31, August.
  • Handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:16:p:4119-:d:1459143
    as

    Download full text from publisher

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/16/4119/pdf
    Download Restriction: no

    File URL: https://www.mdpi.com/1996-1073/17/16/4119/
    Download Restriction: no
    ---><---

    Corrections

    All material on this site has been provided by the respective publishers and authors. You can help correct errors and omissions. When requesting a correction, please mention this item's handle: RePEc:gam:jeners:v:17:y:2024:i:16:p:4119-:d:1459143. See general information about how to correct material in RePEc.

    If you have authored this item and are not yet registered with RePEc, we encourage you to do it here. This allows to link your profile to this item. It also allows you to accept potential citations to this item that we are uncertain about.

    We have no bibliographic references for this item. You can help adding them by using this form .

    If you know of missing items citing this one, you can help us creating those links by adding the relevant references in the same way as above, for each refering item. If you are a registered author of this item, you may also want to check the "citations" tab in your RePEc Author Service profile, as there may be some citations waiting for confirmation.

    For technical questions regarding this item, or to correct its authors, title, abstract, bibliographic or download information, contact: MDPI Indexing Manager (email available below). General contact details of provider: https://www.mdpi.com .

    Please note that corrections may take a couple of weeks to filter through the various RePEc services.

    IDEAS is a RePEc service. RePEc uses bibliographic data supplied by the respective publishers.