Estudo de condições operacionais para melhor extração das própolis verde e vermelha

Aiming for the best utilization of raw propolis, some operational conditions for the extraction of green and red propolis were studied, with green propolis extracted in water and alcoholic solution, and red propolis extracted only in alcoholic solution. Green propolis showed low percentages of moisture and wax and high flavonoid concentration, being classified as Ultra Green raw propolis. Red propolis presented low moisture content but a high percentage of waxes, which, despite being high, is considered typical for this type of propolis. The concentration of formononetin in red propolis was determined for extractions carried out with four alcoholic concentrations, with the best result obtained using the 80°GL solution. However, the highest amount of total soluble solids was obtained using the 90°GL solution. In green propolis extraction, the propolis mass/total mass (propolis + solvent) ratios (MP/MT) that led to the highest amounts of total soluble solids were 0.35 for extraction in 90°GL alcoholic solution and 0.15 for extraction in water. Furthermore, it was observed that two-stage extraction (cross-flow) leads to better utilization of raw propolis, with this utilization being more pronounced for green propolis.