CHARACTERISATION OF MORINGA OLEIFERA SEED LIPIDS AND INVESTIGATION OF THEIR POTENTIAL AS ANTIFOAM AGENTS IN FERMENTATION PROCESS USING MOLASSES AS FEEDSTOCK

Abstract

In an attempt to find plant based foam control agents, crude lipids from the seeds of Moringa oleifera were extracted, purified and fractionated into neutral lipids, glycolipids and phospholipids using column chromatography on silica gel and characterised using Thin Layer Chromatography and GC/MS. The Moringa Oleifera seeds yielded between 31 and 36% (w/w) oil and 30, 2.2 and 3.5% (w/w) of the neutral lipids, glycolipids and phospholipids fractions, respectively. The study also showed that Moringa oleifera has six phospholipids, namely, Phosphatidylinositol, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidylserine, phosphatidylcholine, phosphatidylglycerol and sphingomyelin with phosphatidylcholine being the major phospholipid. When tested for their foam control efficacy, the crude oil, purified oil, 3 lipid fractions and 5 phospholipids fractions extracted from the Moringa oleifera seeds all showed some antifoaming properties. Interestingly, the crude oil and methanoic fraction were 100% better than commercial antifoams both in terms of knocking down already existing foam as well as suppressing. It was thus concluded that lipids of Moringa oleifera seeds have the potential to control foam in fermentation processes using molasses as feedstock.