Synthesis of Ammonium-Based Ionic Liquids for the Extraction Process of a Natural Pigment (Betanin)
Pedro Morales-García,
Evelyn Y. Calvillo-Muñoz,
Irina V. Lijanova,
Natalya V. Likhanova,
Octavio Olivares-Xometl,
Paulina Arellanes-Lozada
Affiliations
Pedro Morales-García
Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIITEC, Cerrada Cecati S/N, Colonia Santa Catarina de Azcapotzalco, Ciudad de Mexico 02250, Mexico
Evelyn Y. Calvillo-Muñoz
Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIITEC, Cerrada Cecati S/N, Colonia Santa Catarina de Azcapotzalco, Ciudad de Mexico 02250, Mexico
Irina V. Lijanova
Instituto Politécnico Nacional, CIITEC, Cerrada Cecati S/N, Colonia Santa Catarina de Azcapotzalco, Ciudad de Mexico 02250, Mexico
Natalya V. Likhanova
Instituto Mexicano del Petróleo, Programa de Investigación y Posgrado, Eje Central Norte Lázaro Cárdenas No. 152, Col. San Bartolo Atepehuacan, Ciudad de Mexico 07730, Mexico
Octavio Olivares-Xometl
Facultad de Ingeniería Química, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Av. San Claudio y 18 Sur, Col. San Manuel, Ciudad Universitaria, Puebla 72570, Mexico
Paulina Arellanes-Lozada
Facultad de Ingeniería Química, Benemérita Universidad Autónoma de Puebla, Av. San Claudio y 18 Sur, Col. San Manuel, Ciudad Universitaria, Puebla 72570, Mexico
The use of new synthesized ammonium-based ionic liquids was explored as an alternative to the current process implemented in the betanin extraction from red beet juice, resulting in high yields: 70% and 82%. Betanin is a vegetal pigment that has been applied to a large variety of products in the food industry, which is important, for it can work as a substitute for the red synthetic dyes used nowadays. Additionally, the use of the kosmotropic salt sodium acetate was explored in order to separate the complex formed by the ionic liquid and pigment of interest in a process that combined two techniques: ATPS (aqueous two-phase system) and SOES (salting-out extraction system). The results reveal that the studied techniques could work as a novel process for the extraction of betanin from red beet juice employing ionic liquids, which have not been tested for this purpose in other research.
