Extractability and structure of spent coffee ground polysaccharides by roasting pre-treatments

The coffee residue left after the preparation of the brew (spent coffee grounds – SCG) is very rich in polysaccharides, namely galactomannans and arabinogalactans, which are polymers that can be used as dietary fibre and present immunostimulatory activity. Considering the huge amount of SCG produced all over the world, the reutilisation of this by-product by its application as food ingredients is very promising. However, the yields of extraction of these polysaccharides tend to be very low, namely the galactomannans. Based on the observation that the yield of galactomannans extracted from the ground coffee to the brew increase when the coffee is roasted, in this study, with the aim of increasing the yield of these polysaccharides, the SCG was roasted and then extracted with hot water and alkali solutions. The roasting at 160 °C promoted an increment of 15% in the yield of galactomannan extractions and further improvement of the yield of extraction until 56% of all galactomannans was achieved by alkali extractions at 60 and 120 °C. In these samples the galactomannans still kept their characteristic structure, including the acetylation and branching, determined by sugar linkage analysis and mass spectrometry. The yield of extraction of arabinogalactans under these conditions was 54%.