Separation of lard in adulterated multivitamins using chromatography and maceration methods

Lard is often found adulterated in illegal multivitamins. Analysis of the lard in the multivitamin requires an optimal separation method. Maceration and chromatography methods have been explored to produce lard extracts that will simplify the analysis process. Column chromatography has the advantage of separating the lard from its impurities. The separation is followed by maceration of the electrosynthetic coupling for further separation of the lard so that the components contained in the lard will be separated further. In this study, activated shells (Anadara granosa) were used in this study as a filler for silica replacement chromatography columns. This study aims to separate lard from a multivitamin adulterated using chromatography and maceration methods. Utilizing clam shells as a filler in the chromatography column in separating the lard contained in adulterated multivitamins. This research uses experimental methods. The initial steps taken were preparation and identification of shells as a filler in the chromatography column. Analysis was carried out using XRD to determine the composition of the shells. Furthermore, the separation of lard contained in adulterated multivitamins using the weight of shells at 30 g then followed by the maceration process. The analysis of lard extracted was carried out through qualitative tests including stain and solubility tests, physical properties tests including iodine number, refractive index, melting point, and acid number. The quantitative analysis was developed using UV spectroscopy. The results showed that the optimum shell weight was 30 g. At this optimum condition, the values of iodine number, refractive index, melting point, acid number were 73, 1.465, 36.5 and 0.9, respectively. The results of quantitative analysis using UV spectroscopy obtained lard at 28.04%.