Pornpisanu Thammapat, Sirithon Siriamornpun, and Patcharin Raviyan

DOI: 10.14456/sjst-psu.2016.22

pp. 163 - 170

Abstract

Optimization of the concentrating conditions of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) extracted from Asian catfish oil was studied to obtain a maximum concentration. The crude fish oil was extracted from the belly flap
and adipose tissue of Asian catfish, and the extracted oil was used as fresh crude oil. The EPA and DHA were concentrated by
the urea complexation method. A hexagonal rotatable design was applied to examine the effects of crystallization temperature
and urea-to-fatty acid ratio on the total content of EPA and DHA (Y₁) and the liquid recovery yield (Y₂). The second order
polynomial regression models for Y₁
 and Y₂
 were employed to generate the response surfaces. Under the optimum conditions
of -20 °C and a urea-to-fatty acid ratio of 4 (w/w), the total concentration of EPA and DHA could be increased by up to 88%, while
a liquid recovery yield of 26% was obtained.