GB781809A - Carotenoid recovery - Google Patents

Abstract

Extractable substances occurring naturally in the seed pulp of Bixa orellana are obtained by treating the dry whole seed thereof or the crude extract obtained after evaporating the solvent from the filtrate obtained after heating the dry whole seeds with a polar organic liquid or a mixture of a polar organic liquid and a nonpolar organic liquid and removing the insoluble portion, with an unheated non-polar organic liquid, separating the insoluble constituents heating the solution to vaporize the non-polar-liquid to leave a substantially bixin-free viscous oleoresinous liquid soluble in both non-polar and polar organic liquids, dissolving the nonpolar organic liquid insoluble constituents in a heated polar organic solvent or a heated mixture of a polar solvent and a non-polar organic solvent therefor, cooling the solution to cause crystallization of the cis-bixin, separating the crystallized cis-bixin, evaporating the solvent from the crystal-free solution to leave a resinous solid product soluble in cold polar organic liquids and substantially insoluble in non-polar organic liquids and comprising a major portion of the trans-bixin originally present in the crude extract. To avoid decomposition the extractions are effected below 100 DEG C. As polar organic liquid there may be employed ethanol, propanol, methanol and acetone and as non-polar liquids chloroform, trichloroethylene and propylene dichloride may be employed. The cold extraction of the oleoresinous fraction may be effected with petroleum ether. In an example the dry seeds are first extracted with ethanol and trichloroethylene and the extract thus obtained is extracted in the cold with petroleum ether to obtain the oleoresinous residue; the petroleum ether insolubles are dissolved in hot ethanol and trichlorethylene and the solution cooled to obtain cis-bixin; the crystal-free filtrate is concentrated by distillation and transbixin obtained therefrom. Other alternative procedures are described.