Extraction of Squalene from Shark Liver Oil in a Packed Column Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

Abstract

Continuous extraction of squalene from shark liver oil using supercritical carbon dioxide was carried out in both laboratory and pilot scale plant. The shark liver oil contained around 50% by weight squalene, which was recovered as the main extract stream. The other major components in the oil were triglycerides, which were recovered as raffinate, and pristane, which was recovered as a second extract stream. Separation performance was determined as a function of temperature; pressure; oil to carbon dioxide flow rate ratio, packed height and type of packing; and reflux ratio. The pressure, temperature, and feed oil concentration of squalene determined the maximum loading of oil in carbon dioxide. The oil to carbon dioxide ratio determined the squalene concentration in both the product stream and raffinate stream. The ratio of oil flow rate to the flow rate of squalene required to just saturate carbon dioxide was found to be a useful correlating parameter for the oil loadings and product compositions. Of the three packings investigated, wire wool gave the best separation efficiency and Raschig rings the worst efficiency. Mass transfer correlations from the literature were used to estimate the number of transfer units NTU from experimental data and literature correlations. NTU's from the experimental data were comparable to predictions at a pilot scale but were underpredicted at the laboratory scale. The use of reflux at the pilot scale enabled the concentration of squalene in the product stream to be increased from 92% by mass to a maximum of 99% by mass at fractionation conditions of 250 bar and 333 K.

Fractionation technologies for liquid mixtures using dense carbon dioxide

“…In non-aqueous mixtures, there is plenty of information available regarding edible oil components and derivatives (Table 1), specifically on fractionation and concentration of sterols, tocopherols, fatty acids, and carotenoids from pepper oleoresin [49], olive oils [12,17,22,26,28], and other vegetable oils such as those of palm [18,19], sunflower [20], and soybean [7,9,23,[50][51][52][53]. Another important application is the fractionation of fish oil fatty acid alkyl esters [42-47, [54][55][56][57][58] where the main issues that remain to be addressed are the appropriate representation of the phase behaviour for more complex or real mixtures, and the process scale-up [59]. Further information on separation of fish oil constituents using supercritical fluids can be consulted in Staby & Mollerup [60] and Shahena et al [61].…”

Combination of Sardine and Shark Oil High Content of Omega-3 and Squalene

“…Squalene (C 30 H 50 ) adalah senyawa dengan berat molekul 410,39 terdeteksi pada waktu retensi 22,04 menit. Squalene merupakan senyawa hidrokarbon rantai panjang tidak jenuh, terdapat pada minyak hati ikan cucut, terutama keluarga Squalidae, minyak ikan cod, minyak zaitun, minyak kelapa, minyak gandum, minyak bayam dan minyak dedak padi (Nunez 2007 Catchpole et al (1997) menyatakan bahwa kandungan Squalene pada hati ikan cucut mencapai 50%. Kamimura et al (1992) menyatakan Squalene dapat mengurangi toksisitas obat yang dikonsumsi.…”

Bioseparation of Nutraceuticals Using Supercritical Carbon Dioxide

“…Continuous fractionation of fish oil FAEE was studied using a pilot plant countercurrent packed column (Fleck et al 1998;Riha and Brunner 2000) to separate low molecular-weight components (LMC; C 14 to C 18 ) from high molecular-weight components (HMC; C 20 to C 22 ), obtaining concentrations for HMC in the raffinate of greater than 95 wt% at a recovery of HMC of greater than 95%. Continuous fractionation of squalene from shark liver oil in a countercurrent packed column resulted in squalene with up to 99% purity (Catchpole et al 1997). Semi-continuous separation of a commercial mixture of fish oil FAEE containing 64% EPA + DHA was investigated by Perretti et al (2007) using a column filled with Raschig rings, employing three temperature zones along the column held at constant temperatures of 40 C, 50 C and 60 C from bottom to top.…”