Coupling solvent extraction with pervaporation for efficient separation of lycopene from tomato waste using chitosan/polyvinylpyrrolidone (CS/PVP) pervaporative membranes and its optimization study

Tomato overproduce is utilized as raw material for lycopene extraction. This research employs a novel approach for lycopene separation: chitosan/polyvinylpyrrolidone (CS/PVP) pervaporation membranes. According to the application of this novel approach, PV acts as a concentration technique of lycopene. To prevent thermal degradation of lycopene, pervaporative separation of lycopene is explored and the results are presented. Lycopene/acetone feed solution is fed to pervaporation unit for efficient separation of lycopene using membranes that are fabricated by a blend of biopolymer and synthetic polymer, viz., chitosan (CS) and polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP), respectively. CS and CS/PVP blend membranes are characterized using differential thermal analysis (TG-DTA), field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM), and Fourier transform infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy to study their thermal properties, structural morphology, and chemical composition, respectively. The pervaporative performance of the CS/PVP blend membranes is studied by evaluating total flux and selectivity. The process is optimized for maximum flux and selectivity using response surface methodology. The higher selectivity values indicate the possibility of using the pervaporative separation process on an industrial scale. The findings of this research show the efficient separation of lycopene using pervaporation membrane–based technology compared to conventional separation techniques. This is the first time that pervaporation process is being used for lycopene separation from solvent using novel CS/PVP membrane. Graphical Abstract