title: Enzyme-supported oil extraction from Jatropha curcas seeds.
abstract: Jatropha curcas is a tropical plant widely distributed in arid areas. The seeds contain about 55% of oil, which is mainly used for the production of soap as a fuel and after transesterification as biodiesel. Various methods for recovering of oil from the seeds, including extraction with organic solvents and water, have been investigated. Compared to hexane extraction (98%) the oil extraction using water only yielded 38% of the total oil content of the seeds. Using several cell wall degrading enzymes during aqueous extraction a maximum yield of 86% was obtained. The influence of cellulolytic, hemicellulolytic enzymes, as well as proteases was studied. The experiments were carried out at different pH-values and temperatures to find out the optimum for oil recovering using enzymes. , Surprisingly, the best results (86%) were obtained using an alkaline protease. Combinations of proteases with hemicellulases and/or cellulases did not further increase the extraction yield. The enzyme-supported aqueous extraction offers a nontoxic alternative to common extraction methods using organic solvents with reasonable yields.
authors.affiliation: Institute of Biotechnology, Graz University of Technology, Petersgasse 12, A-8010, Graz, Austria.
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Winkler
authors.forename: N
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Foidl
authors.forename: G M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Gübitz
authors.forename: R
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Staubmann
authors.forename: W
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Steiner