Title:
Development of a Ferulic Acid –Enriched Nutraceutical: HPLC Guided Recovery from Crop Waste.

Authors:
Shailendra V. Dalvi*, Sharada D. Jadhav, Ganesh N. Deve, Astha B. Prasad, India

Abstract:

A plentiful agricultural waste product of cereal processing, wheat husk is a key source of phenolic chemicals, particularly ferulic acid, which has strong antioxidant and therapeutic effects. Using a validated HPLC technique, the present goal is to extract and quantitatively assess the ferulic acid in wheat husk. The goal of this research is consistent with current trends in using environmentally friendly and effective analytical methods to transform agricultural waste into high value Nutraceutical components. After alkaline hydrolysis and acidification, ferulic acid was isolated and defatted wheat husk by partitioning with ethyl acetate. The concentrated and filtered extract was screened through chromatography. A high-efficiency RP C18 column (4.6 mm X × 250 mm, 5µmPS) was chosen for the HPLC run and a binary eluent comprising acetonitrile and 0.1% glacial acetic acid was utilized for analyte separation which steadily introduced in column for elution under isocratic conditions. Monitoring of elution was conducted at 320 nm. A sharp and well-resolved ferulic acid peak was observed at a retention time of nearly 6.2 minutes. The validation adhered to ICH Q2 (R1) criteria, and the regression conformity demonstrated across the defined concentration intervals of 50-150µg/mL (R² > 0.99). Low % RSD demonstrated precision, and percentage recovery varied between 99.5 to 101.1%. In this study, we show how well HPLC can be to analyze ferulic acid from wheat husk, which emphasizes its potential as a functional food ingredient. The technique offers a scalable, reproducible, and environmentally responsible way to valorize agricultural waste into nutraceuticals that improve health.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.51505/ijmshr.2025.9510