Evaluation of Solvent Extraction Efficiency –Chemical Analysis of the Oil Extracted from Apple Seeds

Abstract

Oils and fats are substances that are important nutritionally and have important role and impact on human health. Energy consumption and preservation in respect of food industry and the increase in the world population and search for new sources of oils and fats to full fill the need of the society particulary the nutritional requirements have introduced this research topic. Therefore aim of this work is to underestand the extraction efficiency of the solvents and to evaluate the extracted oil. Hexan and AW406 were employed to evaluate the extraction efficiency at 60, 80 and 100°C for a period of 30 minutes using Soxhlet apparatus as a mean to extract the oil.The extracted oil was subjected to a series of chemical analysis consisting of fatty acid composition, phospholipid concentration, percent nonsaponifiable matter, Induction period measurement, sterol and tocopherol composition and analysis.The result indicated that the solvent AW406 behavior depends on the temperature of extraction and longer period of extraction is required when AW406 is compared to n-hexane.Chemical analysis of the extracted oil indicated that linoleic and oleic acids were the predominant fatty acids present and β-sitosterol and α-tocopherol constituted the majority of the respective fractions. Due to the fact that extracted oil from apple seeds had approximately 89% of their fatty acid in the unsaturated form, mainly linoleic acid followed by oleic acid, the oil might be employed in food and pharmaceutical products.