Bioactive Sugarcane Lipids in a Circular Economy Context

Abstract

Most of the global sugar and ethanol supply trade comes from the harvesting of Saccharum officinarum (i.e., sugarcane). Its industrial processing results in numerous by-products and waste streams, such as tops, straw, filter cake, molasses and bagasse. The recovery of lipids (i.e., octacosanol, phytosterols, long-chain aldehydes and triterpenoids) from these residues is an excellent starting point for the development of new products for various application fields, such as health and well-being, representing an important feature of the circular economy. By selecting green scalable extraction procedures, industry can reduce its environmental impact. Refluxed ethanol extraction methods have been demonstrated to meet these characteristics. On the other hand, effective non-solvent methodologies such as molecular distillation and supercritical CO₂ extraction can fractionate lipids based on high temperature and pressure application with similar yields. Sugarcane lipophilic extracts are usually analyzed through gas chromatography (GC) and liquid chromatography (LC) techniques. In many cases, the identification of such compounds involves the development of high-temperature GC-MS/FID techniques. On the other hand, for the identification and quantification of thermolabile lipids, LC-MS techniques are suitable for the separation and identification of major lipid classes. Generically, its composition includes terpenes, phytosterols, tocopherol, free fatty acids, fatty alcohols, wax esters, triglycerides, diglycerides and monoglycerides. These compounds are already known for their interesting application in various fields such as pharma and cosmetics due to their anti-hypercholesterolemic, anti-hyperglycemic, antioxidant and anti-inflammatory properties.

Keywords: anti-hypercholesterolemic; anti-inflammatory; antioxidant; bioactive lipids; circular economy; fatty alcohols; phytosterols; sugarcane; terpenes; tocopherols.

Figure 1

Sugar production process and waste generation [15].

Figure 2

Representation of the cross-section of sugarcane plant cuticle [48].

Figure 3

Representation of Folch’s extraction method [55].

Figure 4

Examples of chemical compounds from plant waxes. Structures: (The LIPID MAPS Lipidomics Gateway, 2020).

Figure 5

Schematic illustration of transformation of arachidonic acid through non-enzymatic and enzymatic pathways [105]. Structures: (The LIPID MAPS Lipidomics Gateway, 2020).