Biorefinery of Palm Fatty Acid Distillates (PFAD) for Food, Nutraceutical, and Pharmaceuticals Industries

Authors:

Dianika Lestari^a,c , Muhamad Insanu^b , and Ardiyan Harimawan^a

aDepartment of Chemical Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia

bSchool of Pharmacy, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia

cDepartment of Food Engineering, Institut Teknologi Bandung, Indonesia

Palm fatty acid distillates (PFAD) are one of the side products from crude palm oil (CPO) rafination. PFAD is composed by various valuable components, such as free fatty acids, triglycerides, phytosterols, squalene, and vitamin E (tocopherols and tocotrienols). Roughly, PFAD production rate in Indonesia can reach approx. 1.4 million ton PFAD per year. However, the application of PFAD in Indonesia is still limited, either for feed supplements or directly exported abroad. Fractionation of PFAD has a great potential to produce components for food, nutraceutical, and pharmaceuticals industries. Specifically, vitamin E is basically removed from CPO to PFAD, so the vitamin E content in PFAD (0,5 %-wt) is about 5-times higher than in CPO (500-1000 ppm). These makes vitamin E extraction from PFAD is much more efficient than from CPO. Besides Vitamin E for food supplements and nutraceutical industries, phytosterols and squalene are also potentials as food antioxidants. Phytonutrients and vitamin E will be separated via neutralization of fatty acids with magnesium oxide followed by extraction using food grade organic solvents. Magnesium salts of fatty acids and magnesium stearates which are produced by fatty acids neutralization are also highly potential as tablets excipients and anticaking agent, for food and pharmaceutical industries. In brief, fractionation of PFAD through biorefinery may optimize the use of PFAD while simultaneously answer the needs of food, nutraceuticals, and pharmaceuticals industries in Indonesia.