Recovery and Purification of Rosmarinic Acid from Rosemary Using Electrodialysis

Bruno Zelić,^a* Majda Hadolin,^b Davorin Bauman,^c and Đurđa Vasić-Rački^a
a Faculty of Chemical Engineering and Technology, University of Zagreb, Marulićev trg 19, HR-10000 Zagreb
^b VITIVA d.o.o., Nova vas pri Markovcih 98, SI-2281 Markovci, Slovenia
^c PINUS TKI, Chemical Works, Grajski trg 21, SI-2327 Rače, Slovenia

 Abstract
Recovery and purification of rosmarinic acid from rosemary was performed using lab-scale electrodialysis unit. Electrodialysis of rosmarinic acid model solution was performed to validate its applicability for rosmarinic acid separation. Positive influence of ethanol addition on process performances was analysed in the experiments with dried rosemary extract. Under optimum process conditions (addition of 30% ethanol) ion flux reached 5.9 10^–1 g m^–2 min^–1, specific energy consumption was 3.9 kWh kg^–1, and current efficiency achieved 80.1%.

Key words: electrodialysis, rosemary, rosmarinic acid