Vegetation water treatment

Olive vegetation water, a waste product resulting from olive oil extraction, is a source of hydrophilic antioxidants, which are highly prized by the cosmetics and health food sectors. With a financial support from the Region Languedoc-Roussillon, CIRAD has developed a simple process that recovers and recycles the antioxidant phenolic compounds in vegetation water, but also in green coffee or artichoke aqueous extracts. The process consists in adding a polysaccharide to the aqueous extract and spray-drying the mixture to produce a powder containing phenolic compounds within a polymer structure.

• The process can be used to recover polyphenols such as tyrosol, hydroxytyrosol and chlorogenic acids, which are of high biological value.
• Unless treated, vegetation water is a pollution source, and is costly to evacuate. This alternative process is thus a valuable recycling technique.
• The process is simple and cheap.
• End product quality and concentration are stable over time.

Patented process.

These antioxidant powders are excellent intermediate products for the manufacture of health foods and cosmetics. The human health benefits of antioxidants are widely acknowledged. The powders also serve to reduce deterioration of food products and cosmetics. CIRAD is looking for partners in these sectors to promote these products.