Recovery of lupanine from Lupinus albus L. leaching waters

A direct process for the recovery of the alkaloid lupanine from the debittering wastewaters of Lupinus albus L. was studied. The wastewaters were 10-fold concentrated by a membrane process, osmotic evaporation, using a calcium chloride solution as the osmotic agent. The concentrated effluent was treated in a basic solid medium and extracted with ethyl ether by a direct process. The lupanine present in rich fraction was recovered in a proportion of 18.5%. The lupanine recovered from the L. albus L. wastewaters is presented almost as a racemic mixture. The significant amount of wastewaters produced in a debittering operation, together with the available salt solution used in the industrial process, would justify the recovery of the lupanine content by this membrane process.