Tocotrienol Extraction from CPO (Crude Palm Oil )

Crude palm oil contains approximately 0.2% in total volume of highly valuable nutrients of carotenoids (pro-­‐vitamin A), tocols (tocopherols and tocotrienols, -­‐forms of vitamin E), coenzyme Q₁₀, squalene, phytosterols (sitosterol, stigmasterol, campesterol, and cholesterol), lecithin (phospholipids), and polyphenols. Benefits of these minor components have been well documented.

Carotenoids have been associated with the prevention of cardiovascular disease and macular degeneration, as well as enhancement of the immune system.

Tocols, in particular tocotrienols, have been linked to neuro-­‐protection, cardiovascular protection, and as having anti-­‐cancer effects such as anti-­‐angiogenesis.

Coenzyme Q₁₀ has been linked to anti-­‐cancer effects, and has been associated with cardiovascular benefits, enhanced cellular energy production, and antioxidative defense mechanisms.

Currently, the known industrial method to isolate carotenoids from crude palm oil is to first chemically convert the oil to form fatty acid methyl ester (so called biodiesel) in presence of methanol and catalyst, and then to distill the formed fatty acid methyl esters at high temperature and vacuum resulting in a non-­‐distillable residue mixture that contains minor components and other unwanted materials. This method is associated with several major critical issues that are disadvantageous.

1. The chemistry reaction that forms the biodiesel and the catalysts used in the reaction produce undesired materials known to be toxic to human and other minor components resulting in decomposition of minor components (micronutrients). It is problematic to effectively remove the toxic materials from minor
2. High heat distillation and harsh chemicals partially damage the minor components (micronutrients) and the original oil, resulting in generation of toxic and unhealthy derivatives that can not be effectively removed, resulting in oil that is non useable for human
3. Stability of high value tocols is very sensitive to high The recovery efficiency of tocols and squalene in this method is very low due to the two factors: (1) tocols partially degrade at high temperature and during long term distillation and (2) during distillation a fraction of the tocols and most squalene are also distillated out with the biodiesel.

We have invented and established a new methodology to extract a natural product of minor nutrients from palm oil avoiding these disadvantages. The invented method effectively preserves the minor nutrients as well as the palm oil in their natural composition.

This novel method is involves extraction of micronutrients from CPO at low temperature. The material used for the extraction is a food grade natural solvent. The minor components (micronutrients) remain stable during the extraction process. These isolated minor components maintain their natural composition, as a “natural nutrient”. Furthermore, following the extraction process, the original CPO used in processing is recovered with reduction of free fatty acid content from 7%-­‐14% to less than 1.5%, yield a higher quality of palm oil. Deterioration of Bleachability Index (DOBI) evaluation following extraction demonstrates an increases to 3.05 from an average of 2.66, an additional indication of higher quality, lower impurity CPO compared with the original CPO.