Recovery and Quantification of Folic Acid from Ethyl Cellulose

Glanbia Nutritionals processes certain vitamins, such as folic acid, with a coating of ethyl cellulose before being added to products such as protein bars and drinks. Previously conducted methods used to remove the excess ethyl cellulose and purify and quantify the folic acid have proven to be inefficient. This prompted the need to modify and improve upon the folic acid extraction process. Firstly, the pure folic acid standard and Glanbia sample had undergone sonication separately with ethyl acetate for forty minutes. In conducting liquid-liquid water extractions of both samples dissolved in ethyl acetate, folic acid could be recovered and quantified via HPLC at different concentrations (25 ppm, 50 ppm, 75 ppm, and 100 ppm). Each sample was confirmed to contain folic acid by comparing chromatographic data at 210 nm, 230 nm, and 280 nm, and folic acid recovery from the sample was analyzed. An average recovery of 139.42% was observed which means that every 1.00 grams of Glanbia samples delivers 0.717 grams of folic acid.