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Valorization of Industrial Byproduct-Rice Bran Acid Oil: Direct Extraction and Evaluation of Ferulic Acid and Phytosterols/Triterpene Alcohols for Cosmetic Applications

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Abstract

Purpose

Rice bran acid oil (RBAO) is a free fatty acid-containing byproduct derived from the neutralization step of rice bran oil refinery. It is usually used as a low-value product for animal feed. Given the large amount of bioactive compound, γ-oryzanol, in the RBAO, there is the opportunity to redeploy RBAO as a source for other high-value products. The present study aims to develop a simple alkaline hydrolysis method that could concurrently produce ferulic acid (FA) and phytosterols/triterpene alcohols (PTs) from the γ-oryzanol in the RBAO. The biological activities of FA and PTs were then evaluated for their suitability as cosmetic ingredients.

Methods

The molar ratios of RBAO to KOH and the hydrolysis reaction time were investigated at 80 °C. The hydrolyzed products were chemically characterized by high-performance size-exclusion chromatography and were subsequently purified to remove impurities. The biological activities including sun protection factor, antioxidant activity, tyrosinase inhibition and collagenase activities were evaluated.

Results

The study shows that the RBAO to KOH ratio of 1:15 with 15 min reaction time gave the highest FA yield. The purification procedure resulted in FA and PTs purities of 96.93% and 90.23%, respectively. The FA demonstrated potent cosmetic properties (UV absorption, antioxidant activities, tyrosinase and collagenase inhibitory effects) that compared favorably with that of commercial FA. On the other hand, the PTs showed little activity against 2,2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) radicals.

Conclusion

This work presents a simple, fast and energy-efficient methodology for the simultaneous production of FA and PTs from RBAO. The RBAO-derived FA is suitable for cosmetic applications, while the PTs showed weak inhibitory activity on DPPH radicals.

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Data Availability

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Acknowledgements

The authors would like to thank Surin Bran Oil Co., Ltd. (Surin, Thailand) for supplying rice bran acid oil.

Funding

The work was financial supported by King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT) through the Basic Research Fund: for the fiscal year 2024, the KMUTT Research Center of Excellence Project to Lipid Technology Research Group and the KMUTT Postdoctoral Fellowship to Nattawut Whangsomnuek.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Biochemical Technology, School of Bioresources and Technology, King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), Bangkok, 10150, Thailand

    Nattawut Whangsomnuek & Kornkanok Aryusuk

  2. Pilot Plant Development and Training Institute (PDTI), King Mongkut’s University of Technology Thonburi (KMUTT), Bangkok, 10150, Thailand

    Piraporn Sombutsuwan & Akkaradech Nakornsadet

  3. Center of Excellence in Agricultural Innovation for Graduate Entrepreneur, Maejo University, Chiang Mai, 50290, Thailand

    Doungporn Amornlerdpison

  4. Division of Cosmetic Science, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of Phayao, Phayao, 56000, Thailand

    Lapatrada Mungmai

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  1. Nattawut Whangsomnuek
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Contributions

NW contributed with data curation, investigation, methodology, writing—original draft. PS contributed with methodology and discussion. AN contributed with methodology and validation, DA contributed with review, methodology and discussion. LM contributed with review and discussion. KA contributed with conceptualization, project administration, supervision, funding acquisition, resources, writing—review & editing. All the authors read and approved the final manuscript.

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Correspondence to Kornkanok Aryusuk.

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Whangsomnuek, N., Sombutsuwan, P., Nakornsadet, A. et al. Valorization of Industrial Byproduct-Rice Bran Acid Oil: Direct Extraction and Evaluation of Ferulic Acid and Phytosterols/Triterpene Alcohols for Cosmetic Applications. Waste Biomass Valor 15, 3017–3029 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12649-023-02357-4

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