Enhancement of aqueous solubility and extraction of lauric acid using hydrotropes and its interaction studies by COSMO-RS model

Abstract

In this study, COnductor like Screening MOdel for Real Solvents was used to analyze the ability of hydrogen bond donor, hydrogen bond acceptor and electron affinity of all the studied species such as water, lauric acid (LA), sodium benzoate (SB), sodium salicylate (SS), nicotinamide (NI), and urea (UA). Further, the different hydrotropes solutions were prepared with different concentrations (0–3.0 mol/L) in order to analyze the solubility of lauric acid at different temperatures (303–313 K). Subsequently, hydrotropes based extraction of lauric acid from cold press coconut oil (CPCO) and commercial-grade edible coconut oil (CGECO) was conducted at 313 K and 0.1 MPa. GC–MS analysis has been carried out on cold press coconut oil, commercial grade edible coconut oil and hydrotropically extracted samples to characterize the different fatty acid compounds present in it. It was observed that the sodium benzoate hydrotrope solution extracted samples has lauric acid as a significant component in the GC-MS spectra when compared to the extracted samples of sodium salicylate hydrotrope solution.

Graphical Abstract

Keywords:

• Hydrotropes
• lauric acid
• COSMO-RS model
• solubility
• extraction