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Extraction, purification and characterization of wax from flax ( Linum usitatissimum ) straw
Author(s) -
Athukorala Yasantha,
Mazza Giuseppe,
Oomah B. Dave
Publication year - 2009
Publication title -
european journal of lipid science and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.614
H-Index - 94
eISSN - 1438-9312
pISSN - 1438-7697
DOI - 10.1002/ejlt.200800269
Subject(s) - wax , linum , chemistry , differential scanning calorimetry , hexane , chromatography , chemical composition , composition (language) , straw , extraction (chemistry) , organic chemistry , botany , biology , inorganic chemistry , linguistics , physics , philosophy , thermodynamics
The chemical composition and selected physical parameters of wax extracted from flax straw with supercritical CO 2 (SC‐CO 2 ) and hexane have been determined. From the GC/MS results, clear variations in composition and component distributions were observed between SC‐CO 2 ‐ and hexane‐extracted samples. The major components of the SC‐CO 2 and hexane extracts from three flax cultivars were: fatty acids (36–49%), fatty alcohols (20–26%), aldehydes (10–14%), wax esters (5–12%), sterols (7–9%) and alkanes (4–5%). Purification of SC‐CO 2 ‐extracted wax with silica gel chromatography yielded 0.4–0.5% (dry matter) and was composed primarily of wax esters (C 44 , C 46 and C 48 ) and alkanes (C 27 , C 29 and C 31 ). UV‐Vis scans of the purified wax samples exhibited two main peaks indicating the presence of conjugated dienes and carotenoids or related compounds. Fourier transform infrared results showed prominent peaks at 2918 (‐C‐H), 2849 (‐C‐H), 1745 (‐C=O), 1462 (‐C‐H), 1169 (‐C‐O) and 719 cm –1 (‐(CH 2 ) n ‐), with NorLin wax showing a slightly deviating pattern compared to the other samples. Thermal analysis by differential scanning calorimetry revealed a mean melting point of 55–56 °C and oxidation temperatures of 146–153 °C for purified wax from flax straw processed using different procedures.