Preparative separation and purification of lycopene from tomato skins extracts by macroporous adsorption resins

In order to separate and purify lycopene from tomato skins extracts (lycopene oleoresin) with macroporous adsorption resins (MARs), the adsorption properties of twenty-four kinds of MARs were evaluated. The results showed that LX-68 had higher separation efficiency than other resins. Based on the static experiments with LX-68, it was found that the experimental data fitted best to the pseudo-second-order kinetics model and Langmuir isotherm model. The separation parameters of lycopene from tomato skins extracts were optimised through dynamic adsorption/desorption experiments with the column packed by LX-68. Through only one cycle treatment, the lycopene content in lycopene oleoresin increased 30.4-fold from 0.21% to 6.38%, with a recovery yield of 66.9%, which were determined by HPLC method. The results showed that MARs would provide useful help for the development of large-scale manufacture in the separation of lycopene from tomato skins extracts.