Emerging ways to extract lycopene from waste of tomato and other fruits, a comprehensive review

Abstract

Lycopene is a coloring substance with significant value as a natural food color, along with recognized medicinal and therapeutic properties. Fruit waste is produced in huge amounts by fruit processing industries. The extraction of lycopene from this waste is a promising strategy, for its application in food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. This review summarizes the innovative techniques utilized for extracting lycopene from the waste of tomato, papaya, pink guava, seabuckthorn berries, and apricots. The goal is to assess the effectiveness of contemporary methods and underscore their ability to improve the sustainability and extraction efficiency of this valuable substance. Conventional extraction techniques have long been utilized for extracting this pigment from fruit waste materials, but these techniques have several drawbacks. Novel techniques such as ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, pulsed electric field-assisted extraction, enzyme-assisted extraction, high hydrostatic pressure-assisted extraction, and super-critical fluid extraction provide higher extraction yields as compared to conventional extraction techniques, by using a smaller amount of solvents. These techniques offer improved efficiency, reduced extraction time, increased selectivity, minimized degradation, preserved bioactivity of lycopene, and environmental friendliness.