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Temperature‐dependent solubility of wax compounds in ethanol
Author(s) -
Holser Ronald Alan
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.200900068
Subject(s) - wax , solubility , chemistry , hildebrand solubility parameter , ethanol , enthalpy , solvent , carbon number , organic chemistry , carbon fibers , carbon chain , chromatography , biomass (ecology) , materials science , thermodynamics , alkyl , physics , composite number , composite material , oceanography , geology
The ability of ethanol to dissolve wax compounds, as an alternative to traditional lipid solvents, was investigated for the recovery of cuticular lipids from biomass. The solubilities of fatty esters with carbon chain lengths from 40 to 54 were measured in ethanol over a temperature range of 30–80°C. The greatest increase in solubility was observed between 40° and 60°C for the long chain waxes that are characteristic of flax cuticle lipids. The solubility of a 52‐carbon wax increased by a factor of four over this temperature range. The Van't Hoff equation was used to estimate enthalpy of solution values. Ethanol was an effective lipid solvent at these modestly elevated temperatures and offers an economical method to recover lipid co‐products from biomass prior to conversion to bioethanol.