Simultaneous extraction of oil, protein and polysaccharide from residual seed cake of Camellia oleifera Abel. using three phase partitioning

The seed cake of Camellia oleifera Abel. (SCOC), a big residue produced after Camellia oil extraction, enriches with many bioactive components. However, it is often discarded directly due to the lack of cost-effective extraction. Herein, a three-phase partitioning (TPP) system is first time tried for the simultaneous extraction of three major ingredients i.e. residual oil, protein, and polysaccharide from SCOC. Results from the extraction yields show that the established method is more efficient or at least comparable to conventional techniques. The developed method takes only 1.5 h and can be carried out at mild temperature of 40 °C, making it a cost-effective method. The successful scaling up of the extraction system at a 30 L extraction tank confirms its scalability. Furthermore, compared with conventional extraction methods, the TPP extracts shows better product quality. These facts, along with simultaneous extraction features of the method, allow us to use TPP as a promising extraction technology of SCOC biomolecules.