EXTENDED ABSTRACT Journal of the International Society of Antioxidants Issue n°3, Vol. 4 DOI 10.18143/JISANH_v3i4_1353 Received: 26 October 2016; Accepted: 24 February 2017 © Copyright JISANH 2016-2017 – All rights reserved. 1 An environment friendly extraction process of polyphenols from apple pomaces using response surface methodology Alfredo AIRES 1,2 , Rosa CARVALHO 1 , Carlos RIBEIRO 1 1 Centre for the Research and Technology for Agro-Environment and Biological Sciences, CITAB, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, Quinta de Prados, 5001-801 Vila Real, Portugal 2 Agronomy Department, University of Trás-os-Montes e Alto Douro, UTAD, Quinta de Prados, 5001- 801 Vila Real, Portugal. Corresponding author: Alfredo Aires alfredoa@utad.pt Abstract The aim of this study was evaluate the potential use of low-cost and environment friendly solvents to extract polyphenols from apple wastes for biotechnological application. Apples solid wastes from industrial transformation were used as raw material to produce extracts enriched in antioxidant polyphenols, using a green and environmental friendly solvent in a solid-liquid extraction. The reaction parameters studied were the temperature (50 and70 ºC), extraction time (20 and 40 minutes), solvent ratio (ethanol:water, 20:80, 40:60, 60:40, 80:20) and solid:liquid ratio ( 2:1 and 4:1 ). Response surface methodology based on central composite design was used to assess the main impact of the different extraction factors. The phytochemical composition was assessed by HPLC- DAD/VIS-UV system and the free radical scavenging activity was measured by cupric reducing antioxidant capacity (CUPRAC) method. Our findings are important since polyphenols have an outstanding role in health area, and wide applications in food and pharmaceutical products. The optimized extraction method used in the current study might be less expensive, simple and accurate for the recovery of polyphenols based in an environmentally-friendly extraction solvent. These findings may contribute to its industrial applications for nutraceutical products development. List of abbreviations: Industrial transformation; food wastes; phytochemical recovery; green solvents; sustainability; added-value coproducts. Short title: Recovery of polyphenols from apple pomaces Introduction Every year, several million tons of apple wastes, known as “apple pomace(s)” (apple leftovers after the production of juice) are currently generated from agroindustry as results of industrial transformation of apples into juice (Kosseva, 2013). This material can be used for different purposes including pectin and citric acid extraction, enzymes production (Zheng and Shetty, 2000) as well as for polyphenol extraction (Hernandez-Carranza et al., 2016). In fact, apples are widely recognized as an important source of flavonols, flavanols and anthocyanidins among other polyphenols (Cao et al., 2009). Although the recent advances in the phytochemical extraction techniques, less is known about the best method to extract polyphenols from apple pomaces. Moreover, the majority of the solvents used in the extraction of such phytochemicals, like hexane, acetone, methanol, and ethyl-acetate (Cao et al., 2009; Hernandez-Carranza et al., 2016) are highly toxic and expensive. Therefore, with this study we aim to find a feasible alternative for polyphenol extraction from red apple pomace using environmental friendly and safe solvents (from consumers and factory workers point of