Coffee pulp is an abundant residue from the coffee industry, but it still contains large amounts of valuable compounds such as polyphenols. The extraction of polyphenols from coffee pulp by the conventional method is accompanied by contaminated compounds. This study, therefore, applied an aqueous two-phase system consisting of different ratios of ethanol/ammonium sulfate to eliminate impurities from coffee-pulp crude extract. The purification efficiency was evaluated via total polyphenol content, antioxidant activity and two major polyphenols in coffee pulps including chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid. Results showed that phenolic compounds mostly predominated in the alcohol-rich phase in which the antioxidant activity was greatly increased after the purification process. Compared to un-purified crude-coffee extract, the antioxidant activity of the purified samples increased approximately 34%, which was assumed to occur due to the slight increase of chlorogenic acid and caffeic acid. Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy supported the effectiveness of the purification process by eliminating some impurities.
Keywords: antioxidant activity; aqueous two-phase system; coffee pulp extract; polyphenols; purification.