ARS | Publication request: Urea Inclusion Compound-Based Fractionation for the Eco-Friendly Purification of Ethyl Ferulate in a Bio-Based Sunscreen Product Stream

Submitted to: American Oil Chemists' Society Meeting
Publication Type: Abstract
Publication Acceptance Date: October 19, 2006
Publication Date: May 13, 2007
Citation: Compton, D.L., Hayes, D.G. 2007. Urea Inclusion Compound-Based Fractionation for the Eco-Friendly Purification of Ethyl Ferulate in a Bio-Based Sunscreen Product Stream [abstract]. American Oil Chemists' Society Meeting. p. 135.

Technical Abstract: Urea inclusion compound (UIC)-based fractionation of free fatty acids (FFA) has been employed for over 50 years on both analytical and preparative scales. This approach, which fractionates lipids, mainly based on their degree of saturation, has potential value as a large-scale and continuous-mode process due to its mild operating conditions: low temperature and pressure, low cost, and its use of environmentally-friendly and agriculturally-derived materials (urea, ethanol, water). In this presentation, UIC-based fractionation has been employed to purify a process stream employed in the bio-based synthesis of sunscreen. The sunscreen is produced from ethyl ferulate and soybean oil through the employment of immobilized lipases. The process results in a by-product stream consisting mostly of unreacted ethyl ferulate and fatty acid ethyl esters. This stream, when treated with urea and ethanol, results in the strong partitioning of the fatty acid ethyl ester to the UICs, with ethyl ferulate remaining solubilized in the ethanolic solution.