In order to separate and purify lycopene from tomato skins extracts (lycopene oleoresin) with macroporous
adsorption resins (MARs), the adsorption properties of twenty-four kinds of MARs were evaluated.
The results showed that LX-68 had higher separation efficiency than other resins. Based on the static
experiments with LX-68, it was found that the experimental data fitted best to the pseudo-second-order
kinetics model and Langmuir isotherm model. The separation parameters of lycopene from tomato skins
extracts were optimised through dynamic adsorption/desorption experiments with the column packed
by LX-68. Through only one cycle treatment, the lycopene content in lycopene oleoresin increased
30.4-fold from 0.21% to 6.38%, with a recovery yield of 66.9%, which were determined by HPLC method.
The results showed that MARs would provide useful help for the development of large-scale manufacture
in the separation of lycopene from tomato skins extracts.