T. Chavez-Gil
Coppin State University,
United States
Keywords: extraction, semi critical, assisted-solvent, food, protein, vitamin
Summary:
The extraction/separation of folk medicines, lipids, fragrances, fatty acids, net proteins, vitamins, antioxidants, and metal ions possessing its nature properties are key challenges in food, phytochemistry, medicinal chemistry, agriculture, and biochemistry. To date, the majority of extraction methods that comprise foods and medicines are protein cell disruption, extraction/fractionation, mechanical homogenization, osmotic, chemical-lysis, solubilization/precipitation, and centrifugation. The large number of them however, fails to attain reliable amounts of entire molecules possessing its net biologically structure and function. We have developed an innovation for pilot to large-scale extraction/separation of net proteins, lipids, enzymes, vitamins, and sugars from a broad number of sources such as egg-white ovalbumin/yolk; cow, pork (beef), fish, cereal grains, milk, and antioxidants, fragrances from vegetables through an upgraded apparatus that improves yield/quality of chemical components by setup key parts on the innovated design. Unlike other methods dependent of co-solvent or co-precipitation, our innovation allows that solvents with different thermodynamic properties (density, pH, polarity, vapor pressure) can be easily feed into a versatile operation’s vessel to extract molecules structurally dependent of temperature (a parameter impossible to be achieved by using current commercial extractors). A unique aspect of the innovation is to promote thoroughly percolation in two opposite pathways with the extractant’s (vapor or liquid) temperature and pressure measured in situ by either digital or analogical instruments that works in concert through the manipulation of two valves designed to setup the thermodynamic parameter of interest. From pilot (academia) to industrial (scalable size) projects are possible to be designed in regards of attain among of natural structure of proteins, amino acids, chiral molecules, natural dyes, carbohydrates, which biochemical integrity can be determinate through spectroscopy methods such as UV-VIS, FTIR, 1H-, 13C-NMR, Raman, Fluorescence, Circular Dichroism - 2D, 3D. Moreover, times’ consume and solvent amount are dramatically reduced (at any apparatus scale) due to the innovation compact architectural design, which allows for a better and unique extraction performance if compared with the use of conventional (Soxhlet), (upgraded Gregar), or expensive (Super Critical, CO2, SCE), and Soxtec technologies.