A Novel Microwave Hot Pressing Machine for Production of Fixed Oils from Different Biopolymeric Structured Tissues

A microwave hot pressing machine (MHPM) was used to heat the colander to produce fixed oils from each of castor, sunflower, rapeseed, and moringa seed and compared them to those obtained using an ordinary electric hot pressing machine (EHPM). The physical properties, namely the moisture content of seed (MCs), the seed content of fixed oil (S-cfo), the yield of the main fixed oil (Y-mfo), the yield of recovered fixed oil (Y-rfo), extraction loss (EL), six Efficiency of fixed oil extraction (E-foe), specific gravity (SG(fo)), refractive index (RI) as well as chemical properties, namely iodine number (IN), saponification value (SV), acid value (AV), and the yield of fatty acid (Y-fa) of the four oils extracted by the MHPM and EHPM were determined. Chemical constituents of the resultant oil were identified using GC/MS after saponification and methylation processes. The Ymfo and SV obtained using the MHPM were higher than those for the EHPM for all four fixed oils studied. On the other hand, each of the SG(fo), RI, IN, AV, and pH of the fixed oils did not alter statistically due to changing the heating tool from electric band heaters into a microwave beam. The qualities of the four fixed oils extracted by the MHPM were very encouraging as a pivot of the industrial fixed oil projects compared to the EHPM. The prominent fatty acid of the castor fixed oil was found to be ricinoleic acid, making up 76.41% and 71.99% contents of oils extracted using the MHPM and EHPM, respectively. In addition, the oleic acid was the prominent fatty acid in each of the fixed oils of sunflower, rapeseed, and moringa species, and its yield by using the MHPM was higher than that for the EHPM. The role of microwave irradiation in facilitating fixed oil extrusion from the biopolymeric structured organelles (lipid bodies) was protruded. Since it was confirmed by the present study that using microwave irradiation is simple, facile, more eco-friendly, cost-effective, retains parent quality of oils, and allows for the warming of bigger machines and spaces, we think it will make an industrial revolution in oil extraction field.

Automated summary

In this study, a microwave hot pressing machine was used to extract fixed oils from different seeds and compared with an ordinary electric hot pressing machine. The results showed that the microwave machine had higher extraction yield and did not cause significant changes in the physical and chemical properties of the oils. This indicates the great potential of microwave hot pressing machines in the industrial extraction of fixed oils.