Intensification of bio-actives extraction from pomegranate peel using pulsed ultrasound: Effect of factors, correlation, optimization and antioxidant bioactivities

Graphical abstract
Highlights • PUAE an emerging and non-destructive, cost and energy effective extraction method. • Power and duty cycle had most significant effects for influencing PUAE efficacy. • The optimum conditions were 2.17 S/S ratio at 116 W power; 80% duty cycle for 6 min. • Significant correlation among responses were established during PUAE. • At optimal conditions, the extract showed remarkable antioxidant activity.
Pomegranate peel (PP) is one of the interesting agri-food by-products because of its abundant bioactive phytochemicals. However, the bioactivity of valuable compounds is affected due to the extraction method used. A pulsed ultrasound-assisted extraction (PUAE) was carried out to intensify the extraction efficacy with reduced power and time. Influence of several process variables viz. peel solids/ solvent ratio, sonication power, duty cycle, and extraction time was studied using empirical quadratic models followed by multicriterial numerical optimization with respect to face-centered composite design. Power-duty cycle combination was found to be most significant (p