Abstract:
Phorbol esters (PEs) are toxic compounds found in the Jatropha curcas seeds. Due to their hydrophobic property, PEs still remain in Jatropha oil and residual meals after extraction process. This becomes a limitation for further applications of the oil and its meals. Even though the meals of Jatropha seed contains protein up to 40%, its toxicity restricts its application only for fertilizer production. To solve this problem, this work introduced a new technique to Pes removal in residual meals by using surfactant solutions. Nonionic surfactant and mixed surfactant solutions were investigated on PEs removal from residual meals obtained by various types of extraction methods. Determination of PEs were carried out by HPLC. The results show that the amount of PEs in the mechanical pressed meals was around 1.45 mg/g. The PEs removal efficiencies were 22.49%, 81.43%, 81.23%, 81.87% and 78.85% from water, single 40 mM Tween80, mixed 40 mM Tween80 with 5 mM AOT and 100 mM NaCl, single 40 mM Dehydol LS9, and mixed 40 mM Dehydol LS9 with 5 mM AOT and 100 mM NaCl, respectively. The optimal extraction time was 15 min. Re-extraction and increasing of liquid portion per solid portion was able to increase the removal efficiency of PEs. However, this technique only cannot remove PEs from the meals as low as those found in non-toxic variety. Nonetheless, this method can be considered as a promising technique for the PEs removal from the meal and hence, it can benefit the residue meal in term of valueaddition for further application.
Chulalongkorn University. Office of Academic Resources