Author
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Taylor, Scott |
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King, Jerry |
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Submitted to: Supercritical Fluids International Symposium
Publication Type: Abstract Only Publication Acceptance Date: 7/12/1998 Publication Date: N/A Citation: N/A Interpretive Summary: Technical Abstract: Lecithin, a commercial by-product obtained by degumming soybean oil, is used as an emulsifier in foods and as a wetting agent. Demand for lecithin with a high phosphatidylcholine (PC) content is desired for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics, and foods. Deoiling and enrichment of lecithin has traditionally been achieved using organic solvents. However, they can taint products and lead to off flavors and 50% of the phospholpids (PPL) are left in the hexane extracted meal. Supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2) is effective in removing oil from oilseed matrices; however, PPL have limited solubility in neat CO2. Research has shown the possibility of completely extracting PPL present in deoiled soybean flakes using a SCCO2/ethanol mixture. In this study, chromatographic fractionation was used to obtain fractions enriched in PPL. Initial studies used packed column supercritical fluid chromatography (SFC) at various pressures, temperatures, and modifiers to optimize PPL separation. The model system consisted of PPL standards: PC, phosphatidylethanolamine (PE), phosphatidylinositol (PI), and phosphatidic acid (PA). Optimized chromatographic parameters were transferred to an analytical scale extractor for supercritical fluid fractionation (SFF) studies using a sorbent to optimize the process before scaling up to a preparation level. SFF studies were performed on a commercially available organic solvent produced lecithin. The fractionation process was initiated using neat CO2 at lower pressures and various sorbents in the extraction cell. Analysis of the resultant fractions showed that enrichment of individual phospholipids was possible. |
