Kinetics and Mechanism of Ultrasound-assisted Extraction of Paclitaxel from Taxus chinensis

Abstract

Batch experimental studies were carried out for the ultrasound-assisted extraction of paclitaxel from Taxus chinensis while varying parameters such as ultrasound power, extraction temperature and contact time. The extraction of the majority of the paclitaxel (~99%) was achieved from the biomass by a single extraction at 380W of ultrasound power for a period of 10 min. The kinetics data obtained for the paclitaxel extractions, and the dominant role played by intraparticle diffusion, were found to be in concordance with the pseudo-second-order model, and the intraparticle diffusion model respectively. The effective diffusion coefficient of paclitaxel (4.1882 × 10-13 ~ 5.7093 × 10-13 m2/s) and the mass transfer coefficient (4.705 × 10-8 ~ 14.1160 × 10-8 m/s) increased when the extraction temperature and ultrasound power were raised.