Optimisation and economic evaluation of the supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of waxes from waste date palm (Phoenix dactylifera) leaves

Abstract

Wax extraction has been achieved from an abundant and sustainable waste residue, date palm leaves (or leaflets). Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction was utilised as a clean and efficient extraction technology in this process. Extraction conditions including pressure and temperature have been optimised using response surface methodology (via a 2x2 factorial experimental design). The highest yield obtained was 3.49% at 400 bar and 100 °C, which is significantly higher than other reported agricultural residues. The wax obtained at optimum condition (400 bar, 100 °C) exhibited a comparable melting point (78 °C) to carnauba wax, making it a suitable alternative or replacement for this overexploited commercial plant wax. The supercritical process required significantly shorter extraction times (with a 97% isolated wax yield after 120 min), as compared to soxhlet systems which typically required extraction times of up to 5 hours to obtain comparable yields. Supercritical carbon dioxide was utilised to tailor the extraction process and obtain waxes with different textural properties, chemical composition and melting profile (35-78 °C). An economic study for the date palm leaf wax extraction estimated a lowest cost of manufacture (COM) at €3.78 kg-1 wax. The low cost of the manufacturing, combined with high wax recovery, the thermal properties of the extract

Date Fruit and Seed in Nutricosmetics

“…This could provide new possibilities for natural wax production. The demand for natural waxes is steadily increasing due to customers' preferences for green, sustainable, and natural cosmetic products [20]. Date fruits and seeds have been reported to possess antiaging properties and overcome wrinkling of the skin in women.…”

Biogas Technology as an “Engine” for Facilitating Circular Bio-Economy in Denmark—The Case of Lolland & Falster Municipalities Within Region Zealand

“…Wax from straw: Waxes are a broad term and cover substrates as fatty alcohols, fatty acids, sterols, wax esters, alkanes, etc. Waxes can be produced from biomass residues such as palm leaves and cereal straw and are extracted from the greasy content on the cereal straw surface (Bulushi et al, 2018), and can serve various purposes as for example food supplements, cosmetics, flavorings, fragrances, and coatings (Sin et al, 2014). Wax made from biomass residues (natural wax) can substitute environmental unfriendly petroleum-based (fossil fuel) wax, which currently are limited in production scale (Bulushi et al, 2018).…”

“…Waxes can be produced from biomass residues such as palm leaves and cereal straw and are extracted from the greasy content on the cereal straw surface (Bulushi et al, 2018), and can serve various purposes as for example food supplements, cosmetics, flavorings, fragrances, and coatings (Sin et al, 2014). Wax made from biomass residues (natural wax) can substitute environmental unfriendly petroleum-based (fossil fuel) wax, which currently are limited in production scale (Bulushi et al, 2018). Natural wax can be extracted from cereal straw, by using supercritical CO 2 acting as an extract-fluid/solvent (Hyatt, 1984;Hunt et al, 2010), which facilitates extraction and fractionation of wax from biomass, and can be carried out in an internal one step process (Deswarte et al, 2006;Sin, 2012).…”

Supercritical Carbon Dioxide Extraction of Value-Added Products and Thermochemical Synthesis of Platform Chemicals from Food Waste

“…Such residual-free feature also allows for the direct downstream processing of postextraction biomass to generate additional products, without the need for any energy-intensive and costly solvent removal/drying procedures . ScCO 2 extraction has been reported to be cost-effective when the biomass remains are further utilized for energy, material, or chemical production. , …”

“…17 ScCO 2 extraction has been reported to be cost-effective when the biomass remains are further utilized for energy, material, or chemical production. 18,19 ScCO 2 treatment of lignocellulosic biomass is usually performed prior to biological processing. 20 In an integrated maize stover biorefinery, scCO 2 extraction as the first step not only provided extracts for detergent and nutraceutical applications, but also improved the downstream hydrolysis and fermentation of the postextraction stover in terms of a 40% increase in ethanol production.…”