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ARS Home » Midwest Area » Peoria, Illinois » National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research » Functional Foods Research » Research » Publications at this Location » Publication #238529

Title: Critical fluids for lipid processing

Author
item Eller, Fred
item Taylor, Scott
item Teel, Jeffrey

Submitted to: Annual Meeting and Expo of the American Oil Chemists' Society
Publication Type: Abstract Only
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/3/2009
Publication Date: 5/3/2009
Citation: Eller, F.J., Taylor, S.L., Teel, J.A. 2009. Critical fluids for lipid processing [abstract]. Annual Meeting and Expo of the American Oil Chemists' Society. p. 120.

Interpretive Summary:

Technical Abstract: A lipase interesterification of soybean oil triacylglycerides with ethyl ferulate to produce feruloylated acylglycerols has been described and patented. These feruloylated acylglycerols, termed SoyScreen™, are believed to have potential as natural sunscreens and as antioxidants for the cosmetic and food industry. Critical fluid technology has been used in several ways to improve this lipid processing method. Liquid carbon dioxide (L-CO2) has been used to purify the SoyScreen™ product from the reaction mixture. Both by-product fatty acid ethyl esters (FAMEs) and unreacted ethyl ferulate are separated from the reaction mixture using a counter-current fractionation method. A method utilizing supercritical carbon dioxide in conjunction with a silica column was also used to purify the ethyl ferulate used in this reaction to provide a nearly snow-white product. After it was determined that partially deacylated sunflower oil had some advantages over soybean oil as a starting material, a continuous counter-current fractionation L-CO2 method was developed to remove by-product fatty acid propyl esters from the propanolysis reaction mixture. Critical fluid technology is being used to enhance the synthesis of SoyScreen™ by cycling CO2 through a bed of Novozyme 435 containing triacylglycerides and ethyl ferulate. In this process, CO2 removes FAMEs from the reaction mixture and precipitates them in a reduced pressure receiver before recycling the CO2.