Phytosterols and squalene, widely applied in pharmaceutical and food industries, were extracted and concentrated from passion fruit by-products (PFBP). A supercritical extraction using CO2 (SFE) was performed for PFBP, and the obtained extract underwent supercritical fractionation (SFA) (inlet at 35 MPa, 50–70 ℃) in a column packed with zeolite 13-X (5–15 g). The extraction and fractionation yields were measured, whereas the composition of the PFBP extract and their fractions was assessed by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Fractionated extract recovered presented different trends depending on temperature and zeolite mass combinations, and the highest recovery (approximately 95%) was achieved at 50 ºC with 15 g of adsorbent. At the same SFA conditions, the concentration of squalene, β-sitosterol and stigmasterol was twice that obtained in PFBP extract. Finally, SFA proved to be a clean and effective technique to concentrate squalene and phytosterols from PFBP, which should be extended to other food residues.

The authors thank the São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP), Brazil (Process numbers 2018/20700–0, 2019/19360–3, 2021/01008–1 and 2021/12071–6), the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq), Brazil (Grant 302968/20229), and the Coordination of Superior Level Staff Improvement – Brazil (CAPES) –Finance Code 001.

Peer reviewed