Studies on Crude Wax Extraction From Sugarcane Filtercake Using Ethanol For Policosanol Production

Author : Bagabay, Reinier Jay Cortes
Major Adviser : Borines, Myra G. 
Committee Members : Valencia, Jeanne Michelle T.; Capunitan, Jewel A.; Movillon, Jovita A. 
Year : 2016
Month : December
Type : Thesis
Degree: BS
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Abstract

Policosanol, usually derived from plant waxes, is a long-chained aliphatic alcohol useful in cholesterol reduction. To address the need for policosanol, extraction from various sources such as sugarcane filtercake is one of the growing concerns nowadays. On the other hand, utilization of sugarcane filtercake increases the productivity of the Philippine sugar industry, as well as resolves its disposal issues. Hot ethanol reflux extraction of sugarcane filtercake crude wax was done via two-level factorial design and response surface methodology. The effect of extraction time and extraction temperature on crude wax yield were determined to be significant through the two-level factorial design. The interactions of extraction time, extraction temperature and solvent/solid ratio also affected the crude wax yield significantly. The optimum conditions for extraction of crude wax from sugarcane filtercake obtained through response surface methodology (Box-Behnken) were at 1 hour and 39 minutes, 50 °C, and at 12 mL ethanol/g filtercake. The crude wax yield at these conditions was 7.98% which was comparable with the predicted crude wax yield of 8.27%. The difference between the predicted and actual values was 3.72% which is within the allowable 5% difference. Moreover, the presence of policosanol in the sugarcane filtercake wax was detected using thin layer chromatography. The sugarcane filtercake wax was found to contain policosanol with a retention factor of 0.286.


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