Ultrasound-Assisted Extraction of Bioactive Components from Solid Wastes of Pomegranate Juice Industry Using Deep Eutectic Solvents: A Sustainable Approach for Enhancing Antioxidant Properties in Cosmetic Formulations

This study emphasizes the importance of sustainable utilization of waste from the food industry, development of innovative extraction methods with deep eutectic solvent (DES) and provision of high value-added ingredients to the cosmetics sector. The present work investigates the DES-based ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) method, which is an environmentally friendly method for the extraction of biologically active components from pomegranate solid waste (PSW). The effects of DES-based UAE on total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoid content (TFC) and antioxidant activities (DPPH and ABTS) were investigated. Under the optimal conditions (2 g PSW, 25% water ratio in the DES and 35 min ultrasound treatment), a high-yielding (31.700 mg-GAE/g-FM TPC, 2.563 mg-CE/g-FM TFC, 4.935 mg-TEAC/g-FM DPPH and 5.356 mg-TEAC/g-FM ABTS) and environmentally friendly extraction method was obtained. The relationship between the parameters and biological activity was also evaluated by Principal Component Analysis (PCA). The DES-based PSW extract was used as functional food additive to moisturizing skin products. The properties of the products (oxidative stability, phenolic substance and antioxidant activity) were also analyzed by the same chemometric method (PCA). In the PCA analysis, it was seen that the proposed method showed a significant superiority in terms of biological properties of the cosmetic products.