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Extracting Ferulic Acid from Corn Fibre Using Mild Alkaline Extraction: A Pilot Scale Study

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Abstract

Purpose

There is an increasing demand from the cosmetic, pharmaceutical and food industries for naturally sourced ferulic acid. This study used alkaline extraction under mild operating conditions to recover ferulic acid from corn fibre, with the aim of developing a cost-effective process. The aim was to develop an efficient process of mild alkaline extraction, with an efficient balance between the maximum concentration of ferulic acid and its recovery yield, while producing low-viscous extracts.

Methods

Alkaline extraction experiments were performed at different scales (laboratory, semi-pilot and pilot scales) to select various operating conditions (type of raw material, concentration of NaOH, liquid-to-solid ratio, time and temperature of extraction) involved in this process.

Results

The optimised mild alkaline extraction conditions obtained were: wet corn fibre, without milling and drying, as a starting material followed by extraction with an alkaline solution of NaOH with a concentration of 0.25 M, use of a liquid-to-solid ratio of 10.0 g(extracting solution+ water in the fibre) g−1dry corn fibre, during a period of 7 h at a temperature of 30  ºC.

Conclusions

A low-cost, efficient extraction process of ferulic acid from corn fibre (without any pre-treatment) was developed at pilot scale. The resultant extract had ferulic acid concentration and recovery yield, respectively of 2.10 ± 0.09 gferulic acid.L−1 and 11.14 ± 1.00 Kgferulic acid Ton−1dry corn fibre.

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Acknowledgements

FCT/MCTES, Portugal, is acknowledged for the PhD Fellow grant PD/BDE/113543/2015 (Rita Valério) in a PhD project within an industrial environment and Doctoral Program in Refining, Petrochemical and Chemical Engineering (EngIQ). The company COPAM – Companhia Portuguesa de Amidos, S.A. (Portugal) is also acknowledged for the financial support through the PhD Fellow grant PD/BDE/113543/2015 and for the kindly provide the raw materials (corn gluten feed and corn fibre).

Funding

This work also was supported by the Applied Molecular Biosciences Unit- UCIBIO which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UID/Multi/04378/2019) and by the Associate Laboratory for Green Chemistry- LAQV which is financed by national funds from FCT/MCTES (UID/QUI/50006/2013) and co-financed by the ERDF under the PT2020 Partnership Agreement (POCI-01-0145-FEDER – 007265).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Chemistry Department, LAQV - REQUIMTE, FCT, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal

    Rita Valério, Mafalda Cadima, João G. Crespo & Carla Brazinha

  2. Chemistry Department, UCIBIO-REQUIMTE, FCT, Universidade NOVA de Lisboa, 2829-516, Caparica, Portugal

    Rita Valério

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  1. Rita Valério
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Correspondence to Carla Brazinha.

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Valério, R., Cadima, M., Crespo, J.G. et al. Extracting Ferulic Acid from Corn Fibre Using Mild Alkaline Extraction: A Pilot Scale Study. Waste Biomass Valor 13, 287–297 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-021-01514-x

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