JAKARTA – Researcher of Vaccine and Drug Research Center at the National Research and Innovation Board (BRIN), Asep Bayu conducted a research on development of supervitamin E from palm oil, which is rich in tocotrienols, as immunotheraphy against cancer diseases. Currently, the derivative product of Palm Fatty Acid Distillate (PFAD) is mostly used for production of soap and biodiesel.
“Palm oil has the highest content of tocotrienols compared to other vegetable oils’ fatty acid distillates. Tocotrienols has a very high economic value because its biological activities are two times higher than the tocopherols,” said Asep.
During the monitoring and evaluation of palm oil research grant provided by the oil palm plantation fund management board (BPDPKS) in Tamansari joint work area of BRIN, Bandung, on Thursday (11/1), Asep said that the stages of his research include the technical extraction of tocotrienols from PFAD, application of deep eutectic solvents (DES), and addition of methanol to increase the transfer of mass of vitamin components during the extraction process.
“From the first year research, we found that PFAD has antioxidant activities 2.5 times higher than those of free tocotrienols. The tocotrienol nano-emulsion also shows cytotoxic activities in fighting against breast and lung cancer cells over the concentration range of 50-200 ppm,” Asep was quoted as saying in the website of BRIN.
In the next year, Asep and his research team planned to continue their research to find out the optimum condition in the process of tocotrienol extraction by using DES ChCl solvent of phenolic type or betaine monohydrate – propanoic acid and the making of NANOVITE formula.
Indonesia is the world’s largest producer of crude palm oil (CPO). In 2020, its total palm oil production reached 44.76 million tons. Despite Covid-19 pandemic, the total value of its palm oil exports rose by 18.43%, becoming the top export commodity in Indonesia’s non-oil-gas exports (13.50%). The palm oil is also the top plantation commodity of Indonesia, which plays a very strategic role in the country’s national economy. (*)
Source: sawitindonesia.com
