Quality Parameters of Mechanically Extracted Edible Macauba Oils (Acrocomia aculeata) for Potential Food and Alternative Industrial Feedstock Application

Abstract

There is a need for knowledge on new sources of vegetable oils. Acrocomia aculeata is regarded as a promising alternative source to meet food and industrial demands. With a similar productive potential to Elaeis guineensis, this crop is among the highest oil‐yielding plants in the world. The present study characterizes the A. aculeata oil comprehensively to aid the setting up of standards encompassing the quality, composition, and identity. Samples are obtained under five different pressing conditions and screened regarding quality parameters. The coldly pressed sample, which shows the highest tocols content (85.5 mg kg−1), the higher oil stability index (6.4 h), and an acid value of 1.6 mg KOH g−1 is characterized in terms of chemical, physical, and identity characteristics, i.e., peroxide value, insoluble impurities, mineral contents, fatty acids essential composition, iodine value, saponification value, kinematic viscosity, relative density, unsaponifiable matter, and total carotenoids. Results are compared with the literature sources to assess A. aculeata as an alternative feedstock. The study contributes to evidence that products derived from A. aculeata may have good consumer acceptance, nutraceutical value, and natural appeal. It is suggested that the compliance to legal standards must be pursued to guarantee the sustainability of the productive crop chain. Practical Applications: This paper contributes an assessment of the quality parameters of Acrocomia aculeata oils as Functional Food and alternative industrial feedstock. A comprehensive characterization of the oil studied will help food scientists, industry and food processing research to set up standards concerning composition, identity and health‐related topics regarding one of the highest oil‐yielding plants in the world. A comprehensive characterization of edible vegetable oils mechanically extracted from the mesocarp of fresh Acrocomia aculeata fruit is carried out to consider the assessment of different temperature conditions and subsequent pressings. Quality, composition, and identity characteristics of the crude oil are obtained to set up standards also on health‐related topics.

Acrocomia aculeata fruits from three regions in Costa Rica: an assessment of biometric parameters, oil content and oil fatty acid composition to evaluate industrial potential

“…The composition of the oil extracted from fruit pulps in ''La Palma'' exhibited completely different characteristics, with higher content of oleic acid (76.4%) and lower content of palmitic acid (14%). In general, the fatty acid profiles of the samples taken from Costa Rican A. aculeata were similar to those reported for Brazilian accessions, where oleic acid was also the main component (between 55 and 60%), followed by palmitic acid (between 19 and 23%) and linoleic acid (between 4 and 10%) (Coimbra and Jorge 2012;Nunes et al 2015;Del Río et al 2016;Prates-Valério et al 2019). For E. guineensis accessions, oleic acid contributed 36% and palmitic acid 39% to the total pulp fatty acids (Prates-Valério et al 2019).…”

“…Industrial extraction of oil from A. aculeata fruits will result in the production of byproducts mainly from the husk fraction (Colombo et al 2018;Prates-Valério et al 2019). To extend the efficiency of the energy generation process and increase profits, it is advisable to exploit potential byproducts that can provide an added value, for example through use in the production of combustion-derived energy, carbon and activated charcoal (Evaristo et al 2016).…”

Simultaneous extraction of the oil from the kernel and pulp of macauba fruit using a green solvent

“…In literature, were found works for the extraction of MKO using ultrasonic assisted extraction (Rosa et al, 2019), Soxhlet extractor (Alves, Argandoña, Linzmeier, Cardoso, & Macedo, 2016;Dário et al, 2018;Lescano et al, 2015;Lieb et al, 2019;Oliveira et al, 2017;Rosa et al, 2019), pressurized fluids (Trentini et al, 2019), and pressing (César et al, 2015;Río et al, 2016). The same techniques were used to obtain the MPO (César et al, 2015;Dário et al, 2018;Lescano et al, 2015;Río et al, 2016;Rodrigues et al, 2017;Trentini et al, 2019;Valério-Prates, Celayeta, & Cren, 2019). However, no studies were found on obtaining the oil from a mixture of kernel and pulp.…”

Multi-target response surface optimization of the aqueous extraction of Macauba kernel oil

“…Acrocomia aculeata (known as macauba or bocaiuva) is a promising tropical palm for the production of vegetable oil for both the food and nonfood sectors (Prates-Valério et al, 2019). It grows in dry areas from Mexico and the Caribbean Islands to northern Argentina.…”