Separation and Purification of Wax from Nyamplung (<i>Calophyllum inophyllum</i>) Seed Oil

Abstract

Nyamplung (Calophyllum inophyllum) is a multi-functional plant which is spread widely over the coast of Indonesia. Its seed produces a high content of oil, but its utilization is still limited. It is because C. inophyllum seed oil contains toxic compounds. Therefore, C. inophyllum seed oil has been used as a biodiesel raw material for many years. It was reported that C. inophyllum seed oil contains wax, but its percentage remains unknown. Wax has been used in cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, foods, and coatings industries as oil binder, water repellent, scratch resistance, and dispersion medium. In this work, wax was separated from C. inophyllum seed oil by solvent crystallization with and without separating non-polar lipid fraction (NPLF) from crude oil. Non-polar lipid fraction was separated by batch-wise solvent extraction using petroleum ether to methanol mass ratio of 3:1 (w/w) for eight stages. After eight stages, non-polar lipid fraction was collected for further separation by solvent crystallization method. The ratios of non-polar lipid fraction to acetone were 1:10, 1:20, and 1:40 (w/v). Then, the isolated wax was analyzed by gas chromatography. It was found that wax (purity of 40% and yield of 0.35%) was successfully isolated by separating non-polar lipid fraction from crude oil (batch wise solvent extraction for eight stages) and followed by solvent crystallization (non-polar lipid fraction to acetone ratio of 1:40 (w/v)).