A novel turmeric drying approach based on supercritical carbon dioxide

Sumanjot Kaur, Arda Tuhanioglu, Ali Ubeyitogullari

Objective
This study investigates drying turmeric using an innovative approach based on supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) vs. conventional methods on curcuminoid retention, color, solubility, chemical interactions, crystallinity, and morphology.

Methods
Turmeric samples were dried using oven, freeze, and SC-CO2 drying, where oven and freeze drying were employed as the conventional drying approaches. The dried samples were analyzed for curcuminoid content, water solubility, color, morphology and crystallinity.

Results
The results revealed that SC-CO2 drying preserved up to 82.3 µg curcuminoids /mg dried turmeric, which was significantly higher than the levels retained by oven drying (55.4 µg/mg) and freeze-drying (42.4 µg/mg).

Conclusions
This study demonstrates the advantages of SC-CO2 drying over traditional drying methods, namely oven drying and freeze drying, in preserving the quality and bioactive compounds of turmeric.

Reference
Sumanjot Kaur, Arda Tuhanioglu, Ali Ubeyitogullari, A novel turmeric drying approach based on supercritical carbon dioxide. Scientific Reports 15:34994 (2025)