Cholesterol removal by nanofiltration: Applications in nutraceutics and nutritional supplements

The extraction process applied on egg yolk by the Laboratoire de Micronutrition Appliquée (LMA laboratory) allows recovery of three lipidic compounds in an ethanolic solution: triacylglycerides, phospholipids and cholesterol. Our work consists in separating these three lipidic compounds. First cholesterol is separated from the other two lipids by nanofiltration, as this technique is generally able to separate compounds whose molecular weights range between 200 and 2000 g mol−1. A feasibility study performed on a variety of nanofiltration membranes with different characteristics shows that for this membrane range the separation is poorly influenced by the membrane cut-off but greatly influenced by the membrane chemistry. Then the most appropriate membrane is selected and the best experimental procedure determined. The relationship between cholesterol levels in foods and the development of coronary diseases is a very controversial issue, and therefore the possibility of separating cholesterol by using the appropriate nanofiltration membrane would be a breakthrough in the domain of nutraceutics and nutritional supplements.