Microwave Assisted Extraction of Biodiesel Feedstock from the Seeds of Invasive Chinese Tallow Tree

Abstract

Chinese tallow tree (TT) seeds are a rich source of lipids and have the potential to be a biodiesel feedstock, but currently, its invasive nature does not favor large scale cultivation. Being a nonfood material, they have many advantages over conventional crops that are used for biodiesel production. The purpose of this study was to determine optimal oil extraction parameters in a batch-type and laboratory scale continuous-flow microwave system to obtain maximum oil recovery from whole TT seeds using ethanol as the extracting solvent. For the batch system, extractions were carried out for different time-temperature combinations ranging from 60 to 120 degrees C for up to 20 min. The batch system was modified for continuous extractions, which were carried out at 50, 60, and 73 degrees C and maintained for various residence times of up to 20 min. Control runs were performed under similar extraction conditions and the results compared well, especially when accounting for extremely short extraction times (minutes vs hours). Maximum yields of 35.32% and 32.51% (by weight of dry mass) were obtained for the continuous and batch process, respectively. The major advantage of microwave assisted solvent extraction is the reduced time of extraction required to obtain total recoverable lipids, with corresponding reduction in energy consumption costs per unit of lipid extracted. This study indicates that microwave extraction using ethanol as a solvent can be used as a viable alternative to conventional lipid extraction techniques for TT seeds.

Selection of Suitable Reference Genes for Quantitative Real-time PCR in Sapium sebiferum

“…It has been cultured for biofuel production and as an ornamental plant (Jeffrey and Padley, 1991). The fruits produce a highly saturated fatty acid in the tallow layer and highly unsaturated oil in the seed (Bolley and McCormack, 1950; Boldor et al, 2010). Tallow is applied for manufacturing candles, soap, cloth, and fuel, while the seed's oil can be used for making varnishes and native paints (Brooks et al, 1987; Jeffrey and Padley, 1991).…”

Lipid Extraction Methods from Microalgae: A Comprehensive Review

“…Sometimes for enhanced oil recovery, mechanical crushing is used in conjunction with chemical methods. However, press methods are expensive and involve prolonged processing times (Boldor et al, 2010). In addition, mechanical pressing generally requires input materials with very low-moisture content, and drying of the algae biomass, which is an energyintensive process, can account for up to 30% of the total production costs.…”

“…Unsteady oscillations will result in transient cavitation, which will ultimately implode. A cavitation implosion produces extremely localized heat shock waves, which disrupt the microalgal cells (Brujan et al, 2001). Thus, sonication cracks the cell wall and membrane due to the cavitation effect (Engler, 1985;Harrison, 1991;Hosikian et al, 2010;Adam et al, 2012).…”

Oil accumulation in non-seed tissue: transcriptome analysis of Chinese tallow

“…The CT fruits are a good source of both a highly saturated fat as well as highly unsaturated oil distributed between the external vegetable tallow and in the seed kernel respectively [10] . Both lipids are deemed suitable for conversion to biodiesel, while tallow fat is also of interest to the confectionery industry [11] . However, little is known about CT, and the crop is unexploited due to lack of genomic or transcriptome resources.…”

“…Numerous studies refer to tallow layer as an external fat deposition secreted out from the seed [11,13] . After studying the tallow layer formation at different developmental stages, we reasoned that it might in fact be a cellular tissue containing the machinery to synthesize oil.…”