Efficient lycopene recovery from tomato peels by a combination of enzymatic and chemical treatment

Abstract This work evaluated the recovery of lycopene from industrial tomato waste using cellulase enzyme in a combination with ethanol and alkaline treatments. Central composite design (CCD) was applied to optimize the enzymatic step. An optimal lycopene yield of about 51.09 µgg −1 was obtained under the cellulose-to-tomato peel ratios of 4.25 mLg −1 , the temperature of 48.25 °C, and a hydrolysis duration of 152.81 min. A combination of the enzyme-ethanol treatment (at 60 °C for 5 s) before solvent extraction resulted in a minimal increase in lycopene yield, while a combination of the enzyme and alkaline processes (45 % KOH, 10 % sample weight at 55 °C for 30 min) significantly enhanced the lycopene recovery yield by 249.6 %. In lycopene extracted under optimal conditions, the highest antioxidant activity against oxidizing agent (H 2 O 2 ) was observed at about 75.4 % for the enzyme-alkaline treatment.