Extraction Purification and Characterization of Policosanol from Thai Rice Bran Wax

Abstract

Policosanol is a mixture of long chain aliphatic alcohols of 20-36 carbon atoms. It is a constituentof animal and plant waxes such as beeswax, rice bran, sugar cane, oat and wheat. Policosanol can be usedto reduce platelet aggregation, endothelial damage, foam cell formation and cholesterol content in differenttissues such as liver, heart and fatty tissue. Rice bran wax is a good source of policosanol. It is cheap butthere has been no research about policosanol in Thailand. Thus, the objective of this research is to increasethe value added of Thai rice bran wax which is a by product from rice bran oil refinery. The waxcontained 55.91% oil, 40.67% wax ester, 2.56% free long chain fatty alcohol and 1.86% unidentifiedmatter. After saponification, policosanol was selectively extracted into the organic solvent. The compositionand purity of policosanol were analyzed by gas chromatography (GC) and high performance liquidchromatography (HPLC). The obtained policosanol consisted of alcohols of 16-36 carbon atoms. Themain composition of policosanol extracted by toluene, isooctane and the precipitate from the isooctaneextract were fatty alcohol of C26 (21.4%), C24 (29.5%) and C30 (33.1%) with the purity over than 94%.The yield of policosanol from Thai rice bran wax is 26.56%.

Keywords : Purification / Solvent Extraction / Long Chain Fatty Alcohol / Rice Bran Wax /Policosanol / Saponification