The extraction of cardol and cardanol from cashew nut shell liquid

摘要

A method for extracting 2 phenolic compounds from a mixture essentially comprises: providing an inert adsorbing support loaded with the mixture; separating a first compound with a first solvent; and separating a second compound with a second solvent; characterised in that the first molecule to be extracted is that that has the smallest number of OH groups. The adsorbing support may be silica, alumina, montmonrillonite, magnesium silicate, aluminium silicate, zeolite, polystyrene beads, chitosoan or glass beads. For example, Cashew Nut Shell Liquid (CNSL) was tumbled onto Celite (RTM) to give a free flowing powder. This was packed into a separation vessel and extracted firstly with liquid carbon dioxide (giving cardanol) and secondly with supercritical carbon dioxide (giving cardol).