Articles
UTILIZATION OF STONE FRUIT KERNELS AS A SOURCE OF OIL FOR EDIBLE AND NON-EDIBLE PURPOSES
Article number
696_97
Pages
551 – 557
Language
English
Abstract
Suitability of utilizing stone/ pits of apricot, plum and peach was evaluated for extraction of oil. Chulli (wild apricot) and New Castle cultivars of apricot were found most suitable for oil extraction purposes with the oil yield ranging between 43-44.4% (dwb) followed by kernels of Santa Rosa plums and Elberta and July Elberta peaches.
For commercial oil extraction, the use of mechanical decorticator for crushing of stones was found most efficient with a crushing efficiency of 42 -94.7 kg stones per hr against manual crushing of only 2.3-6 kg stones/hr.
Specific gravity separation method consisting of immersion of crushed mass in 20% salt solution (1.158 specific gravity) brought about complete separation of kernels.
Manual separation on the other hand was too laborious, time consuming and less efficient.
The yield of kernel oil obtained through oil press having all contact parts made of wood at semi commercial scale ranged between 33.1-36.6% against the recovery of 44.9-48.9% oil obtained by using soxhlet extraction apparatus.
Peach kernel oil contained highest concentration (41.2 mg %) of hydrocyanic acid (HCN)-a bittering component while apricot oil had only 6.5 mg/100g HCN. However, detoxification method comprising of immersion of kernels in 20% salt solution for 5 minutes (apricot), 15 minutes (plum) and 30 minutes (peach) prior to oil extraction resulted in complete removal of toxic component (HCN). As such this method can safely be combined with the previous unit operation of kernel separation.
Chemically, the kernel oil was found to be a rich source of unsaturated fatty acids besides other nutritive components.
Thus the stone/pits of stone fruits left after processing can successfully be utilized for the extraction of kernel oil.
For commercial oil extraction, the use of mechanical decorticator for crushing of stones was found most efficient with a crushing efficiency of 42 -94.7 kg stones per hr against manual crushing of only 2.3-6 kg stones/hr.
Specific gravity separation method consisting of immersion of crushed mass in 20% salt solution (1.158 specific gravity) brought about complete separation of kernels.
Manual separation on the other hand was too laborious, time consuming and less efficient.
The yield of kernel oil obtained through oil press having all contact parts made of wood at semi commercial scale ranged between 33.1-36.6% against the recovery of 44.9-48.9% oil obtained by using soxhlet extraction apparatus.
Peach kernel oil contained highest concentration (41.2 mg %) of hydrocyanic acid (HCN)-a bittering component while apricot oil had only 6.5 mg/100g HCN. However, detoxification method comprising of immersion of kernels in 20% salt solution for 5 minutes (apricot), 15 minutes (plum) and 30 minutes (peach) prior to oil extraction resulted in complete removal of toxic component (HCN). As such this method can safely be combined with the previous unit operation of kernel separation.
Chemically, the kernel oil was found to be a rich source of unsaturated fatty acids besides other nutritive components.
Thus the stone/pits of stone fruits left after processing can successfully be utilized for the extraction of kernel oil.
Publication
Authors
P.C. Sharma, P. Kamboj, B.B. Lal Kaushal, D. Vaidya
Keywords
kernel oil, apricot, peach, plum
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