EXTRACTION AND RECOVERY OF PHORBOL ESTERS FROM JATROPHA PRESSED SEEDS BY SURFACTANT SOLUTION

Abstract

Phorbol esters (PEs) are bio-pesticide and potentially applied for health treatment, found in jatropha oil and pressed seeds. PEs is generally extracted by methanol; safety and health risk becomes concerns. Thus, surfactant solutions are introduced as alternative solvent. The results indicate that PEs act as a large polar organic molecule and locate in outer palisade of a surfactant micelle. Nonionic surfactants with high EON have found higher extraction efficiency than those of anionic surfactants. Laureth-12 yields the highest efficiency 85%, which is comparable with methanol, under the optimal condition at 9.4% of laureth-12, 100 g/L of solid to liquid ratio, 1000 rpm of agitation speed, and 40 min of extraction time. In recovery PEs, cloud point (CP) phase separation technique has been conducted; the extract PEs-in the laureth-12 solution has CP >100°C. Anion of electrolytes showed higher efficiency than cation, and trivalent anionic was the best for lowering CP. However, 5.9% of Na2SO4 show the best normalized score of factors with, 91% of PEs recovery at 40°C. The limitation of CP extraction is that PEs and laureth-12 were extracted together, thus further extraction to separate PEs from surfactant is needed. The preliminary result for this extraction shows that polar solvent i.e. butanol and dichloromethane perform better than nonpolar solvent (hexane). The jatropha pressed seeds and crude oil, PEs raw material, should keep under suitable condition, to avoid high temperature and light exposure, which cause highly PEs degraded. PEs should be extracted soon after harvest and pressed the seeds for oil production.