Batch extraction of β-carotene from Gac ( Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng) fruit peel

β-carotene, a prominent provitamin A carotenoid, functions both as an essential antioxidant beneficial to human health and as a natural food colorant. Gac (Momordica cochinchinensis Spreng) fruit peel, often discarded as biomass waste, represents a promising source of β-carotene. Extracting β-carotene from Gac peel can significantly enhance the value of this waste material. In this study, a conventional solid-liquid method was employed to extract β-carotene from Gac peel. The influence of several factors, including solvent type, particle size, temperature, and solid-to-solvent ratio, on the extraction efficiency was investigated. The results indicated that smaller particle size significantly improved β-carotene extractability. Among acetone, hexane, and ethyl acetate, ethyl acetate proved to be the most effective solvent for β-carotene extraction. At a solvent-to-material ratio of 10:1, the highest β-carotene recovery was attained after three consecutive extractions, with the first extraction accounting for 69.9% of the total recovery. A kinetic model incorporating the effects of driving force and degradation on the kinetics of β-carotene extraction was developed. The calculated activation energies for extraction and degradation were determined to be 9.15 and 69.71 kJ/mol, respectively. This study demonstrates the potential of β-carotene extraction from gac peel and provides valuable insights into the underlying kinetics.