Estudo da extração do corante azul natural do jenipapo via solvente

Abstract

The genipap is the fruit of the genipap tree which is found throughout tropical America. In Brazil, it is mainly present in the regions of the Atlantic Forest and the Amazon. Its applications are numerous, and it can be used to produce liquors and wines. It is also used in medicine to combat diseases related to the lung, liver, and spleen. What stands out in fruit when is still green is its ability to offer a navy-blue dye, which is very scarce when we talk about natural dyes. The aim of this work was to evaluate the extraction of the natural blue dye from genipap (Genipa americana L.) in the green maturation state using accessible, non-toxic, and cheap solvents such as water and ethanol in its pure state. The genipaps are from a site near to the Adolpho Ducke Forest Reserve in Manaus and were transported to the C-38 laboratory of the Escola Superior de Tecnologia – EST, to carry out the experiments using a factorial design of 23 in duplicate. The independent variables of the factorial design were temperature (at 55ºC and 75ºC), solvent (water and ethanol) and pH (4 and 6) generating an extraction concentration response that was obtained with the aid of a color standard, blue of indigotin, which was used to determine the concentrations of the extraction samples using a double-beam ultraviolet visible spectrophotometer, after scanning to determine the wavelength with the highest peak. The effects of the variables on the response were evaluated in the Statistica version 13.5 program, generating the Pareto and surface graphs, which in the end revealed that the tests with higher temperature and using water as a solvent obtained better extraction of the blue dye and, consequently, shade closer to the standard indigotin blue, also revealed that in the scenario of this work the pH did not influence the extraction. None of the extractions involving pure ethanol was successful in this work, this fact is attributed to the methodology used and the need for the solvent to have water in its composition, at least 5% of water mixed with ethanol. A mathematical model was obtained at the end of the experiments which expresses the relationship between the variables in the final dye concentration at this study.