Avocado oil extraction processes: method for cold-pressed high-quality edible oil production versus traditional production

Abstract

Nowadays the avocado fruit (Persea americana Mill.) is widely regarded as an important fruit for its nutritional values, as it is rich in vital human nutrients. The avocado fruit is mainly sold fresh on the market, which however trades also a relevant quantity of second-grade fruits with a relatively high oil content. Traditionally, this oil is extracted from dried fruits by means of organic solvents, but a mechanical method is also used in general in locations where drying systems and/or solvent extraction units cannot be installed. These traditional processes yield a grade of oil that needs subsequent refining and is mainly used in the cosmetic industry. In the late 1990s, in New Zeland, a processing company with the collaboration of Alfa Laval began producing cold-pressed avocado oil (CPAO) to be sold as edible oil for salads and cooking. Over the last fifteen years, CPAO production has increased in many other countries and has led to an expansion of the market which is set to continue, given the growing interest in highquality and healthy food. Avocado oil like olive oil is extracted from the fruit pulp and in particular shares many principles of the extraction process with extra-vergin olive oil. We conducted a review of traditional and modern extraction methods with particular focus on extraction processes and technology for CPAO production.

Characterization of Virgin Avocado Oil Obtained via Advanced Green Techniques

“…In 2016, the largest avocado producing country in the world was Mexico (1889 thousand tons), followed by Dominican Republic (601 thousand tons) and Peru (455 thousand tons) . The edible pulp constitutes the biggest portion of the fruit (65%) whereas the seed (20%) and the peel (15%) constituted the rest . Avocado fruit is also known as “butter fruit” or “vegetable butter” as the fleshy pulp is rich in lipid content.…”

“…Extractions of avocado oil using organic solvents, centrifugation force, supercritical fluid, and cold‐pressing have been studied extensively in the past. However, chemical properties of the oil obtained following different extraction methods, particularly the qualities, bioactive phytochemicals, volatile components, and antioxidant capacities, have not been investigated.…”

The use of disc stack centrifuge in the virgin olive oil industry

“…The latest improvement of the three phases decanter technology reduces to almost 0% the residual oil in the water and the adjustability of process parameter. Hence, the use of the centrifuge to recover a very limited quantity of VOO from vegetation water is recently abandoned by customer and, in any case, should be evaluated according to economic constraints (Costagli and Betti, 2015).…”

“…Today DSC for oil purification still has a crucial importance in the VOO industry and, as for the other equipment of the extraction plant is contribute to influence the characteristics of the final obtained oil (Costagli, 2006;Servili et al, 2012). Moreover, DSC has been applied for similar process extraction method like cold pressed avocado oil (Costagli and Betti, 2015). Despite that, applied research on the use of DSC for VOO is very limited.…”

Optimization of ultrasound‐assisted aqueous extraction to produce virgin avocado oil with low free fatty acids

“…Avocado ( Persea americana Mill) is an evergreen fruit crop widely cultivated in tropical and subtropical countries. A majority part of the fruit is constituted by the fleshy pulp (65%), followed by the seed (20%), and peel (15%) (Costagli & Betti, ). Avocado oil is one of few plant oils not derived from the seed.…”