Effect of solvent (CO2/ethanol/H2O) on the fractionated enhanced solvent extraction of anthocyanins from elderberry pomace

The management of agro-industrial residues is an important issue for environmental reasons and the reuse of byproducts represents a good alternative, especially if it is conjugated with green technologies and the production of valuable products. Portuguese elderberry pomace is rich in anthocyanins with therapeutic properties that confer to this byproduct potential to be applied in the food and pharmaceutical industries. Fractionated high pressure extractions from elderberry pomace were performed using supercritical CO2 extraction, followed by enhanced solvent extraction (ESE) with diverse CO2/ethanol/H2O solvent mixtures (0–90%, 0.5–100%, 0–95%, v/v/v), at 313 K and 21 MPa, in order to obtain anthocyanin-rich fractions. The ESE solvent mixtures had a substantial effect on extracts yield and composition. The maximum extraction yield (24.2%), total phenolic compounds (15.8% gallic acid equivalents), total flavonoids (8.9% epicatechin equivalents), total anthocyanins (15.0% cyanidin-3-glucoside equivalents) and antioxidant activity (IC50 of 21 μg) achieved highlight the great potential of elderberry pomace for valuable applications.