Abstract
Extraction is an essential procedure in the fields of food, pharmacy, and renewable bio-fuels, and it affords the recovery of desired components and the removal of undesired components from the natural feedstock. Conventional extraction techniques involving organic solvents and supercritical fluids have been extensively studied and used. Generally, these techniques are either economically or environmentally unfavourable because of the use of toxic solvents and considerable heating and pressurizing. Recently, a new extraction technique involving the use of liquefied dimethyl ether (DME) as a green solvent has attracted tremendous attention. This technique is economically efficient and environmentally friendly by virtue of the unique physical and chemical properties of DME. Additionally, the DME method can extract/remove the desired/undesired components as well as dewater (dry) the wet materials simultaneously. These advantages render the DME method practicable in several industrial fields. This chapter attempts to outline the potential of liquefied DME as an extraction solvent by elucidating the operating principles, procedures, and some recent studies and results.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
References
Bligh EG, Dyer WJ (1959) A rapid method of lipid extraction and purification. Can J Biochem Physiol 37:911–917
Catchpole O, Ryan J, Zhu Y, Fenton K, Grey J, Vyssotski M, Mackenzie A, Nekrasov E, Mitchell K (2010) Extraction of lipids from fermentation biomass using near-critical dimethylether. J Supercrit Fluids 53:34–41
Czernik S, Bridgwater AV (2004) Overview of applications of biomass fast pyrolysis oil. Energ Fuels 18:590–598
Delrue F, Setier P-A, Sahut C, Cournac L, Roubaud A, Peltier G, Froment AK (2012) An economic, sustainability, and energetic model of biodiesel production from micro algae. Bioresour Technol 111:191–200
Demirbas A, Science S, Turkey T (2009) Production of biodiesel from algae oils. Energ Sources A 31:163–168
EFSA (2009) Scientific opinion of the panel on food contact materials, enzymes, flavourings and processing aids (CEF) on dimethyl ether as an extraction solvent. EFSA J 84:1–13. http://dx.doi.org/10.2903/j.efsa.2009.984
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations-Production (FAOSTAT) (2010) http://faostat.fao.org/DesktopDefault.aspx?PageID=567&lang=en#ancor
Gallagher BJ (2011) The economics of producing biodiesel from algae. Renew Energy 36:158–162
Holldorff H, Knapp H (1988) Binary vapour-liquid-liquid equilibrium of dimethyl ether-water and mutual solubilities of methyl chloride and water: experimental results and data reduction. Fluid Phase Equilib 44:195–209
Jae-Yon L, Chan Y, So-Young J, Chi-Yong A, Hee-Mock O (2010) Comparison of several methods for effective lipid extraction from micro algae. Bioresour Technol 101:75–77
Jaime L, Mendiola JA, Ibáñez E, Martin-Álvarez PJ, Cifuentes A, Reglero G, Señoráns FJ (2007) β-Carotene isomer composition of sub- and supercritical carbon dioxide extracts. Antioxidant activity measurement. J Agric Food Chem 55:10585–10590
Kanda H, Makino H (2009) Clean up process for oil-polluted materials by using liquefied DME. J Environ Eng 4:356–361
Kanda H, Makino H (2010) Energy-efficient coal dewatering using liquefied dimethyl ether. Fuel 89:2104–2109
Kanda H, Li P (2011) Simple extraction method of green crude from natural blue-green microalgae by dimethyl ether. Fuel 90:1264–1266
Kanda H, Morita M, Makino H, Takegami K, Yoshikoshi A, Oshita K, Takaoka M, Morisawa S, Takeda N (2011) Deodorization and dewatering of biosolids by using dimethyl ether. Water Environ Res 83:23–25
Kanda H, Li P, Ikehara T, Yasumoto-Hirose M (2012) Lipids extracted from several species of natural blue-green microalgae by dimethyl ether: extraction yield and properties. Fuel 95:88–92
Kanda H, Li P, Yoshimura T, Okada S (2013a) Wet extraction of hydrocarbons from Botryococcus braunii by dimethyl ether as compared with dry extraction by hexane. Fuel 105:535–539
Kanda H, Li P, Makino H (2013b) Production of decaffeinated green tea leaves using liquefied dimethyl ether. Food Bioprod Process. http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.fbp.2013.02.001
Kitada K, Machmudah S, Sasaki M, Goto M, Nakashima Y, Kumamoto S, Hasegawa T (2009) Supercritical CO2 extraction of pigment components with pharmaceutical importance from Chlorella vulgaris. J Chem Technol Biotechnol 84:657–661
Kondamude N, Mohapatra SK, Misra M (2008) Spent coffee grounds as a versatile source of green energy. J Agric Food Chem 56:11757–11760
Liam B, Philip O (2010) Biofuels from microalgae – a review of technologies for production processing, and extraction of biofuels and co-products. Renew Sust Energ Rev 14:557–577
Li P, Kanda H, Makino H (2014) Simultaneous production of bio-solid fuel and bio-crude from vegetal biomass using liquefied dimethyl ether. Fuel 116:370–376
Molina Grima E, Belarbi E-H, Acién Fernández FG, Robles Medina A, Chisti Y (2003) Recovery of microalgal biomass and metabolites: process options and economics. Biotechnol Adv 20:491–515
Mussatto SI, Carneiro LM, Silva JPA, Roberto IC, Teixeira JA (2011) A study on chemical constituents and sugars extraction from spent coffee grounds. Carbohydr Polym 83:368–374
Meng X, Yang J, Xu X, Zhang L, Nie Q, Xian M (2009) Biodiesel production from oleaginous microorganisms. Renew Energy 34:1–5
Oshita K, Takaoda M, Kitade S, Takeda N, Kanda H, Makino H, Matsumoto T, Morisawa S (2010) Extraction of PCBs and water from river sediment using liquefied dimethyl ether as an extractant. Chemosphere 78:1148–1154
Sawangkeaw R, Bunyakiat K, Ngamprasertsith S (2010) Areview of laboratory-scale research on lipid conversion to biodiesel with supercritical methanol. J Supercrit Fluids 55:1–13
Wu J, Zhou Y, Lemmon EW (2011) An equation of state for the thermodynamic properties of dimethyl ether. J Chem Eng Data 40:023104
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2014 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Li, P., Makino, H. (2014). Liquefied Dimethyl Ether: An Energy-Saving, Green Extraction Solvent. In: Chemat, F., Vian, M. (eds) Alternative Solvents for Natural Products Extraction. Green Chemistry and Sustainable Technology. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43628-8_5
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-43628-8_5
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-662-43627-1
Online ISBN: 978-3-662-43628-8
eBook Packages: Chemistry and Materials ScienceChemistry and Material Science (R0)