Upscaling the Cymbopogon citratus (lemongrass) Extraction Process to Obtain Optimum Alpha-glucosidase Inhibitor (AGI) Levels
Corresponding email: diah.widiputri@gmail.com
Published at : 21 Jul 2020
Volume : IJtech
Vol 11, No 3 (2020)
DOI : https://doi.org/10.14716/ijtech.v11i3.3688
Widiputri, D.I., Julisantika, I., Kartawiria, I.S., Gunawan-Puteri, M.D., Ignatia, F., 2020. Upscaling the Cymbopogon citratus (lemongrass) Extraction Process to Obtain Optimum Alpha-glucosidase Inhibitor (AGI) Levels. International Journal of Technology. Volume 11(3), pp. 532-543
| Diah Indriani Widiputri | Swiss German University, The Prominence Tower, Jl. Jalur Sutera Barat No.15, Alam Sutera, Tangerang, 15143, Indonesia |
| Ivana Julisantika | Swiss German University, The Prominence Tower, Jl. Jalur Sutera Barat No.15, Alam Sutera, Tangerang, 15143, Indonesia |
| Irvan Setiadi Kartawiria | Swiss German University, The Prominence Tower, Jl. Jalur Sutera Barat No.15, Alam Sutera, Tangerang, 15143, Indonesia |
| Maria DPT Gunawan-Puteri | Swiss German University, The Prominence Tower, Jl. Jalur Sutera Barat No.15, Alam Sutera, Tangerang, 15143, Indonesia |
| Florence Ignatia | Swiss German University, The Prominence Tower, Jl. Jalur Sutera Barat No.15, Alam Sutera, Tangerang, 15143, Indonesia |
Cymbopogon citratus
(lemongrass) has a great potential to be commercialized as an anti-diabetic
medication due to its alpha glucosidase inhibitor (AGI) activity. To achieve
this goal, this paper continues the study of extraction optimization at the
pilot scale to determine the effect of sample quantities on AGI activity. This
experiment comprised three phases: designing the percolator, optimizing the
process parameters and conditions, and determining the correlation between
various sample quantities and AGI activity. The effects of macerating the plant
material prior to percolation and using different solvent flow rates during
extraction were observed. Four different variations were used in the extraction
process trials: 63.09 cm3 s-1, 94.64 cm3
s-1, 126.20 cm3 s-1, and 189.30 cm3
s-1. Sample quantities of 400 g and 500 g were used to upscale the
analysis. The results showed that maceration did not significantly increase AGI
activity (P?<?0.17), but it did shorten the time needed to reach
equilibrium concentration. Similarly, the solvent flow rate variations did not
affect AGI activity (P?<?0.078), but they shortened the extraction
time. A significant decrease in AGI activities was observed when switching from
laboratory to pilot scale, and an even greater decrease in AGI activity was
observed when the sample quantity was increased to pilot scale. It was
therefore concluded that lemongrass extract can only be used to maintain
optimal AGI activity at the maximum sample quantity of 300 g for the percolator
designed in this research, which produced an extraction yield of 39.45±1.59%.
Alpha-glucosidase inhibitor; Cymbopogon citratus; Diabetes; Lemongrass; Upscaling extraction
Diabetes mellitus, commonly known
as diabetes, is a metabolic disease in which a person’s body does not produce
insulin or respond to insulin, causing hyperglycemia or high concentrations of
blood glucose (Jones et al., 2012). If not
treated, diabetes can cause blindness, kidney failure, and cardiovascular
disease (Institute for Quality and Efficiency in
Health Care, 2018). According to the World Health Organization (WHO),
diabetes caused 1.6 million deaths in 2016 (WHO,
2018). Synthetic medications are available to treat diabetes; however,
according to Basu et al. (2019), by 2030
treating diabetes could become a serious problem due to both the limited amount
of insulin available and poor access, defined as the availability and
affordability of diabetic medications in middle- and low-income countries such
as Indonesia (Chow et al., 2018). In order
to solve this problem, alternatives such as
plant-based medications have gained popularity due to their availability and
fewer side effects. Many technologies have been developed to increase plants’
therapeutic properties (Suryanegara et al., 2015;
Zhou et al., 2017) in order to promote diabetic patients’ awareness of self-monitoring and self-control of their
blood sugar level (Dewi et al., 2017),
including plant-based medications.
Plants such as Cymbopogon
citratus (lemongrass), commonly known as serai in Indonesia, have
anti-diabetic properties due to the presence of bioactive compounds in their
aqueous extract that act as an ?- (alpha-)glucosidase inhibitor (AGI) (Adiyoga et al., 2015). Alpha-glucosidase is an
enzyme located in the epithelium of the small intestine that breaks down
oligosaccharides and polysaccharides to monosaccharides such as glucose.
Inhibiting ?-glucosidase thus reduces the production of glucose and slows down
the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream, thereby preventing hyperglycemia
(Kumar et al., 2011; Kang et al., 2013).
Despite its scientifically
proven anti-diabetic benefits, the commercialization of C. citratus has
not been explored in depth. At present its commercial value lies primarily in
its lemony tang, which is used as flavoring agent and fragrance (Widiputri et al., 2019). It is thus of interest
to further explore how the anti-diabetic benefits of C. citratus in
aqueous extract can be commercialized. Several studies have already been
conducted to investigate how to commercialize C. citratus as an
anti-diabetic therapy. These studies were conducted on a laboratory scale in
order to determine the optimum extraction parameters and the most suitable
pre-treatments for C. citratus, adapted from the industrial-scale process.
The optimum extraction conditions suggested were using a
fresh-herb-to-aqueous-solvent ratio of 3:10 (w/w) at 70°C, subjecting it to a
pre-treatment process that includes washing it once and drying it in an oven at
40°C, and subjecting it to extraction for 40 minutes (Gunawan-Puteri
et al., 2016; Widiputri et al., 2017).
Even though
laboratory-scale optimization has been conducted, direct commercialization is
not possible because the laboratory process may have other parameters that are
overlooked and could cause significant problems when the scale is increased.
This can increase the risk of commercial failure. It is therefore important to
optimize the extraction process on a pilot scale first, utilizing a typical
industrial extractor (percolator) to identify which parameters affect the
process and to further study the effect of upscaling the AGI activity of
lemongrass extract.
In conclusion, the upscaling of Cymbopogon
citratus (lemongrass)
extraction revealed that AGI activity decreased as the sample quantity was
increased. This decrease in AGI activity was also found when a percolator was
applied in a pilot scale, although the extraction yield increased
significantly. In order to maintain optimum AGI activity, the maximum sample
quantity used in the percolator designed for this study was 300 g, and the
implementation of an initial maceration treatment is suggested. In order to further
expand the operating capacity of such a process, modification of the operating
conditions must be considered; such a change might require improving the
solvent flowing profile through the sample bed in the percolator.
The
author would like to thank the Ministry of Research, Technology, and Higher
Education of the Republic of Indonesia (Ristekdikti) for funding this project
(contract nos. 209/M/KPT/2018; 7/E/KPT/2019 and AGMT/REC/A0010/III/2019). The
help and support from lecturers and laboratory assistants in the Faculty of
Life Sciences and Technology of Swiss German University are also acknowledged.
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