Abstract: Electrocoagulation (EC) is commonly used in wastewater treatment to remove contaminants, but the process has the potential to be used in clarifying plant extracts for the isolation and identification of secondary metabolites. Pigments such as chlorophyll hinder the detection and characterization of some plant metabolites. Solvent: solvent extraction and activated charcoal are conventional methods often employed to clarify plant extracts for characterization. EC could potentially replace conventional methods in plant extract purification. In this research, an electrocoagulation time of 30 minutes (22V, 0.3-0.5A) with 15cm x 3cm x 0.3cm aluminum electrodes resulted in a significant decrease, about 76% and 70% of chlorophyll and carotene pigments respectively from seaweed extract. The decrease in extract color mirrored a decrease in total phenolic content (TPC) from 54mg/g±0.92 GAE to 3.2mg/g±0.05 GAE after 30 minutes of electrocoagulation. However, the phenolic acid profile of the extract after electrocoagulation via HPLC-RP indicated the removal of an interference probably caused by polymeric compounds from the extract thus leaving the simple phenolic acids in solution for detection. The major phenolic acids detected in seaweed crude extract were P-coumaric, O-coumaric, Ferulic and syringic acid. Flavonoids detected included Epicatechin and Rutin. The results of this study show the potential of replacing conventional plant extract purification methods with a green method that requires no additional solvent.
