Work

Supercritical concentration of ethyl laurate from coconut oil

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Countercurrent extractions with supercritical carbon dioxide (SCCO2) were carried out to fractionate ethyl laurate (EL) from a fatty acid ethyl ester (FAEE) mixture obtained by ethanolysis of coconut oil. The effect of pressure (9-14 MPa), temperature (40-70 ºC) and CO2 flow rate (30-70 g/min) on the purity of ethyl laurate (EL-P) and long-chain saturated fatty acid ethyl esters (LCSFA-P) were investigated and modeled by Response Surface Methodology. Pressure had a positive effect on both responses. Higher temperatures led to larger EL-P, but lower LCSFA-P in the extracts. SCCO2 flow rate was only significant for EL-P and there was an interaction effect with temperature (highest EL-P achieved at the highest temperature and flow rate). The optimum experimental condition provided by the model to reach a high EL-P and low LCSFA-P in the extracts was 13 MPa, 70 ºC and 70 g/min. The experimental EL-P and LCSFA-P obtained at that condition was 59.6% (value identical to the theoretical one) and 14.2% (relative error of 16.4%), respectively. At the optimum condition, an extract with an i) EL-P 20% higher (enrichment factor of 1.2), ii) LCSFA-P 50% lower than those of the coconut oil (feed), and iii) EL recovery of 83.9% was achieved.

Source: LWT

DOI: 10.1016/j.lwt.2025.117928