Hydrophobic compounds are solubilised in water by using hydrotropes. After extraction, recovery of the target compound is done by dilution. Does anyone have example of using hydrotropic extraction at industrial scale?
A hydrotropy-based extraction method is used for selective extraction of curcuminoids from Curcuma longa. By using hydrotropic extraction, citral could be extracted under normal operating conditions, and the use of traditional organic solvents could be applied.Yes it is feasible for industrial application, A simple and rapid method based on hydrotropic solubilization is developed for isolation of forskolin from coleus forskohlii roots. The plant cells are permeabilized by aqueous hydrotrope solutions followed by extraction and solubilization of forskolin into the hydrotrope solutions of alkyl benzene sulfonates and carboxylates. The solubility of forskolin is increased by 350 times in the hydrotropic solutions and it is possible to recover 85% pure forskolin from the hydrotropic solutions by simple dilution with water. The purity of the recovered forskolin decreased with the particle size from from 85% to 70% o of the roots. Nearly 80% of the forskolin having 50% puritycould be obtained from the coleus roots using 2.0 mol/dm3 aqueous sodium cumene sulfonate (Na−CS) solutions at 363 K. Na−CS showed the most efficient solubilization of forskolin from the Coleus roots among all the other hydrotropes.
It can be feasible. However the dilution process to recover the phytochemical can be energy consuming due to the evaporation process needed for the solvent reusability.