Artichoke Biorefinery: From Food to Advanced Technological Applications

Abstract

A sequential extraction process has been designed for valorizing globe artichoke plant residues and waste (heads, leaves, stalks, and roots left in the field) by means of green extraction techniques according to a biorefinery approach. We investigated two cascading extractions based on microwave-assisted extractions (MAE) and green solvents (water and ethanol) that have been optimized for varying temperature, solvent and extraction time. In the first step, phenols were extracted with yields that ranged between 6.94 mg g−1 dw (in leaves) and 3.28 mg g−1 dw (in roots), and a phenols productivity of 175.74 kg Ha−1. In the second step, inulin was extracted with impressive yields (42% dw), higher than other conventional inulin sources, corresponding to an inulin productivity of 4883.58 kg Ha−1. The remaining residues were found to be valuable feedstocks both for bioenergy production and green manure (back to the field), closing the loop according to the Circular Economy paradigm.