Optimizing Pretreatment of Medicinal Raw Materials by RFC Plasma before Extraction

Abstract

Optimization of the RF-plasma treatment modes of chaga raw materials using the Statistica 6.0 software package has been performed. Mathematical design has been carried out to calculate the optimum parameters of RF-plasma treatment using three plasma-forming gases – argon, air, and nitrogen. Plasma treatment of chaga raw materials has been undertaken at the constant parameters: pressure P = 30.0 Pa, anodic current J = 0.7 A, gas consumption G = 0.04 g/s; the variable parameters were power U = 5.0÷7.0 kV and treatment duration at the high-frequency capacitor category of the lowered pressure t = 30÷60 min. Optimization of four key parameters for extraction of chaga raw materials (solid residue, melanin yield, antioxidant activity of both extract and chaga melanin) depending on the chosen plasma-forming gas (argon, air, or nitrogen) has been achieved. The optimum modes of RF-plasma treatment allowing to obtain the extracts and melanin of chaga mushroom with the improved physicochemical and antioxidant characteristics have been calculated.

Keywords

• chaga raw materials
• extraction
• RFC-plasma treatment
• antioxidant activity