Technical and Economic Evaluation of Phorbol Esters Extraction from Jatropha curcas Seed Cake using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

Jatropha curcas plant shrub of Euphorbiaceae family is a plant whose s eeds are rich in oil that can be used for biofuel production. However the seeds contain many toxic compounds which the most important ones a re known as phorbol esters (PEs). This study has as aim the study of t he technical and economic feasibility of the supercritical fluid for t he PEs extraction present in the Jatropha seed cake. The effect of tem perature (40-100°C) and pressure (100-500 bar) on the phorbol yield wa s investigated using a central composite design methodology to determi ne the significance and interactions of these parameters. PEs in the e xtracted samples were analyzed and quantified by HPLC. The supercritic al fluid extraction was effective in the recovery of PE extracted from Jatropha curcas cake varying from 23.0%, at 70°C and 500 bar to 2.6% at 90°C and 160 bar. The results showed that pressure had the most sig nificant enhancing effect on the phorbol ester yield. Simulations of p horbol ester extraction from Jatropha curcas cake were carried out usi ng SuperPro Designer 9.0 (Intelligen, Inc) to evaluate production cost s of an industrial process to treat the necessary quantity of cake. It was possible to conclude that the supercritical extraction is viable to be applied.