Minor Compounds Extractability of Sunflower Oil in Packed Bed Extractor

CINGOLANI, CELESTE; CARRIN, M.E.; CARELLI, A.A.

Phoenix, USA

Congreso; 101 th AOCS annual meeting; 2010

AOCS

During solvent extraction of seed oil, oil composition changes from almost pure triglycerides to fractions containing no glyceride material of low solubility. Tocopherols and phospholipids are natural compounds of oil seed that pass to the oil during extraction. Temperature, time, amount of solvent, and other parameters of extraction influences yield and composition of obtained oil. The aim of this work is to study the effect of raw material pretreatment (expanded collets and press cakes) and temperature (50 – 60ºC) on the extractability of minor compounds (phospholipids and tocopherols) during sunflower oil extraction using a laboratory packed bed extractor.Sunflower oil was extracted from the raw material in a packed bed extractor at pilot scale, using commercial hexane as solvent. Tocopherols and phospholipids content determinations were performed by HPLC. Tocopherol and phospholipid compounds were extracted in a similar manner as oil. Results showed that temperature had the most significant effect over extraction kinetic. Analytical data would be useful in future modeling studies and simulation applications.