Research and development on an integrated and wastefree utilization of horse chestnut (Aesculus hippocastaneum) seeds

Horse chestnut seeds were used in production of β-escin, as the main product, a flocculating agent, and activated carbon. β-Escin is used for pharmaceutical and cosmetic purposes. The possibility of producing an integrated, wasteless process was investigated. Some parts of the whole process were worked out in detail, other parts will have to be dealt with later. Analytical problems were investigated, and HPLC was found to be efficient for liquid samples, with a multi-step spectrophotometric method for solid samples.