Extracting phospholipids from gum using liquified dimethyl ether versus supercritical fluid carbon dioxide

Abstract

Gum discarded from the degumming stage of refining crude rice bran oil is a good source of phospholipids (PLs), which are widely used in the food, feed, pharmaceutical, and cosmetic industries due to their unique properties and health benefits supporting brain function and liver health. We examined the recovery of PLs from gum using chemical pretreatment following low-pressure liquefied dimethyl ether (LDME) extraction. The PLs extracted from gum using supercritical fluid carbon dioxide as a green technology were used as a reference level. The highest PL level obtained with supercritical fluid carbon dioxide extraction was 38 g/100 g at 70 °C and 60 MPa, using 15 % ethanol as a co-solvent. Pretreating gum with ethanol in a 1:5 (w/v) ratio at 60 °C for 1 h following LDME extraction at 60 °C (0.6–0.8 MPa) for 30 min gave the highest PL content at level of 37 g/100 g, which was close to the highest level obtained by supercritical fluid carbon dioxide extraction. The ethanol pretreatment of gum following LDME extraction has potential as an environmentally friendly method of PL extraction.