Oil palm fruit calyx as a resource for phospholipids extraction

Oil palm calyx is a solid waste in the oil palm industry which is yet to find economic usage. This study aimed to determine the feasibility of recovering phospholipids from the oil palm calyx. Preliminary functional property of calyx phospholipids was determined using emulsion stability. Results indicated that oil palm calyx had 14% total lipids when extracted with methanol and 62.3% of lipids were acetone insoluble lipids (phospholipids). Methanol extracted phospholipids showed that the highest concentration of total phospholipids (1971 mg/L) with phosphatidylcholine (PC) have been the predominant phospholipid. The calyx phospholipids stabilized oil in water emulsion at 2% concentration. The study serves as a foundation on the positive usage of oil palm calyx in producing industrial phospholipids. Key words: Oil palm, lecithin, phospholipids, waste, palm calyx oil.