Expeller pressing of passion fruit seed oil: Pressing efficiency and quality of oil

Abstract

The passion fruit juice production generates around 70% of by-products comprising rind, seeds and arils that are commonly discarded. The seeds consist of 4% of fruit weight with the potential to produce around 2,500 ton/year of high added-value oil in Brazil. In this work, passion fruit seeds from different juice manufacturers and the effect of the seed moisture were evaluated towards oil quality and extraction efficiency, using a continuous expeller press of 100 kg/h capacity. The seeds were washed and dried before pressing. The main fatty acids detected were linoleic (67% to 68%), oleic (16% to 17.4%) and palmitic (11%). The oil quality and oil recovery depended on the seed oil content, i.e., the seed moisture before pressing and the different provenances of the seeds. Significant differences were observed for oxidative stability, acidity and conjugated dienes (p < 0.05) for oils from different fruit juice manufacturers. Among them, only one met the requirements of Brazilian regulation regarding oil acidity (less than 2%), thus indicating the need for an effective waste treatment process after juice extraction. Regarding the seed moisture, the highest Oil Stability Index (OSI) (7.4 h) and lowest free fatty acid content (0.63%) were obtained for the oil from the lowest seed moisture content. The oil recovery varied from 78% to 89% and the cake oil content was lower than 8% showing the elements of the feasibility of the process to obtain good quality oil.

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“…Seed moisture is a parameter that can be measured and changed as needed. An important factor in optimising the process of pressing oilseeds is to determine the most effective humidity indicator, at which the oil yield is the highest (Antoniassi et al, 2022). Based on the research of many scientific papers, the study (Bălțatu et al, 2022) concluded that there is an optimal humidity level for each type of oilseed.…”

Analysis of the oil extraction process and prospects of automation of screw press operation

“…Efficiency [2] of the screw press for oil extraction is another important aspect of the production process. The auger plays a key role in pressing [1], ensuring efficient squeezing of oil from the raw material.…”

Passion fruit (Passiflora edulis Sims) by-products as a source of bioactive compounds for non-communicable disease prevention: extraction methods and mechanisms of action: a systematic review

“…Despite the popularity of passion fruit consumption, approximately 70% of the by-products produced during passion fruit juice production are discarded (7). However, extracts from waste have shown medicinal effects and a wide range of pharmacological activities against non-communicable diseases, including anti-diabetic, anti-cancer, wound repairing, anti-inflammatory, hypolipidemia, hypertensive capacities (8)(9)(10)(11)(12)(13)(14).…”