Aqueous enzymatic extraction of palm kernel oil

Abstract

Inexpensive enzyme with high hydrolitic activity is required to bring the aqueous enzymatic extraction (AEE) of seed / biomass oil into commercialization. In this study a commercial digestive drug which is mainly composed of amylase and protease enzymes has been applied to extract the palm kernel oil. A single factor experiment evaluated the effect of the ratio palm kernel to water, concentration of digestive drug used, pH, incubation time and temperature on extraction efficiency, free fatty acid (FFA) content and lipid profile in form of monoglyceride, diglyceride and triglyceride. A significant effect was observed for all the parameters and the highest extraction efficiency of 96% with FFA content less than 0.68% was observed in the incubation condition of 1:5 ratio palm kernel to water, 9% w/w of digestive drug, pH of 9, 90 min of incubation time at 45°C. Green metrics assesment confirmed that the AEE process is more green process than the soxhlet method. In comparison with other existing extraction methods, the AEE showed better extraction efficiency against the screw press and supercritical carbon dioxide methods.