Evaluation of bio-based solvents for phenolic acids extraction from aqueous matrices

Bio-Refinery of Oilseeds: Oil Extraction, Secondary Metabolites Separation towards Protein Meal Valorisation—A Review

“…2-methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF) or 2-methyloxolane (C 5 H 10 O) is a promising alternative for hexane in the oil extraction process. It is a sustainable bio-based solvent produced from renewable resources, namely lignocellulosic biomass (cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin) such as sugarcane bagasse and corn cobs [10,73,[149][150][151][152]. The two pathways for the production of 2-MeTHF (levulinic acid or furfural pathway) are detailed in the review published in 2020 by Rapinel et al [10].…”

“…However, it is not FDA-approved for food contact yet. Furthermore, this solvent displays very interesting characteristics: wide range of solvation properties [149], ease of recycle [151] and partial water miscibility resulting in a better diffusion in moist samples [153]. 2-MeTHF has a higher boiling point compared to hexane (80 • C vs. 69), which allows extraction at a higher temperature [10].…”

“…D-limonene was first tested as a promising alternative solvent in the Soxhlet oil extraction from olives in 2008 by Virot et al [158,159]. It is regarded as a biodegradable solvent with low environmental impact as well as low toxicity [149]. According to Bertouche et al, 2012 [118], α-pinene is another promising solvent, showing higher extraction yield than hexane (21.1 vs. 19.1 and 67.2 vs. 52.6 g/100 g DM from soybean and sunflower, respectively).…”

“…No special precautions are needed for handling DMC as it does not present any mutagenic or irritating effects, and is safe for metals as it does not cause corrosion [153,162]. CPME (C 5 H 9 -O-CH 3 ), on the other hand, is considered as a green solvent despite being petroleumbased [73,139], yet this multipurpose solvent can be produced from biomass, either through the methylation of cyclopentanol derived from furfural, or through the transformation of cyclopentene (with methanol addition) or cyclopentanone, both derived from adipic acid [149,163]. CPME presents attractive characteristics such as high hydrophobicity (low water solubility of 1.1 g CPME/100 g [163], forming a positive azeotrope [164]), thus ease of drying, low enthalpy of vaporization, stability in strong acidic or basic atmosphere conditions, low toxicity, high flash point (compared to hexane) and narrow explosion range, but has a higher boiling temperature compared to hexane (106 • C) [149,152,[163][164][165].…”

Liquid–Liquid Equilibria of Green and Biobased Solvents 2-Methyltetrahydrofuran + (Ethanol or 1-Butanol) + Water and Cyclopentyl-methyl-ether + (Ethanol or 1-Butanol) + Water at 298.15 K

“…Biobased solvents are derived from renewable resources, such as agricultural crops, forest products, aquatic biomass, and waste material, through fermentation, chemical transformation of biomass derivates, or as waste material from other processes. 1,7 Besides the established green and biobased solvents ethanol, 1-butanol, and water, the 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (2-MeTHF) and cyclopentyl-methyl-ether (CPME) have gained interest in the last few years. The hydrophobic solvent 2-MeTHF has a wide range of solvation and physical properties and can be produced from furfural by hydrogenation.…”