Supercritical extraction of phorbol ester from Jatropha curcas cake

Jatropha curcas is an oilseed with a high oil content, and it stands as a plant with potential for biodiesel production. As a result of its oil extraction, tonnes of seed cake are produced as byproduct. This seed cake has high nutritional value, but the presence of phorbol ester, a toxic compound, restricts its use in animal feed. Different detoxification processes have been developed with the objective to remove these toxic components in order to take advantage of the cake. They also possess some beneficial effects, because not all of the PEs are toxic and their activity and potency vary from one type of PE to another. Some studies had been reported the antifungal and insecticide properties from Jatropha curcas seed cake that are attributed to the presence of PE. The bioactive compounds, such as the phorbol esters, are usually present in vegetable matrices in low concentrations, requiring more selective and effective extraction processes for recovery of these materials. The use of supercritical fluid is an alternative technique for bioactive compounds recovery from plant materials.