Production of vegetable oil from purple passion fruit seeds

Vietnamese scientists have produced vegetable oil from purple passion fruit seeds (Passiflora edulis).

The oil obtained from this process can be blended with other products, used in food and cosmetics.

Purple passion fruit seeds contain many beneficial oils.

'The process of producing vegetable oil from purple passion fruit seeds (Passiflora edulis)' is an exclusive solution of Prof. Dr. Nguyen Manh Cuong and his colleagues from the Institute of Chemistry of Natural Compounds, Vietnam Academy of Science and Technology.

The solution refers to the process of producing vegetable oil from purple passion fruit seeds. The oil obtained from this process can be blended with other products, applied in food and cosmetics.

Professor Nguyen Manh Cuong shared that in the process of producing juice as well as other products from purple passion fruit, a large amount of by-products such as fruit peels and seeds are being dumped, causing environmental pollution or not being used properly and effectively.

Purple passion fruit seeds account for about 6 - 12% of the fruit's weight, so the production process can produce thousands of tons of seeds every year. With the area of ​​purple passion fruit cultivation increasing many times in the following years, the amount of excess seeds will increase. Therefore, taking advantage of passion fruit seeds to create value-added products, oriented for use in food and cosmetics is a necessary and urgent task.

Purple passion fruit seeds contain polyphenols with the main components being piceatannol, resveratrol and stilbene dimers such as scirpusin A and scirpusin B; oil: Accounts for 15 - 20% of seed mass, including phytosterols, a few tocopherols and mainly unsaturated acids.

The results of chemical composition analysis showed that purple passion fruit seed oil grown in Vietnam has a content of linoleic acid (ω-6) of 66.94%, oleic acid (ω-9) of 18.86% , sterols of 2935.35 mg/kg, triglycerides of 74.11% and tocopherols of 18.04 mg/kg.

Purple passion fruit seeds contain many beneficial oils, antioxidants, and very low saturated acid content.

The unsaturated acids in purple passion fruit seed oil are mainly linoleic acid and oleic acid, accounting for over 89%. The content of ω-6 unsaturated acids in purple passion fruit seed oil is equivalent to the ω-6 content in some types of vegetable seed oils currently used and sold on the market such as: sunflower, grape seed, safflower oil and sesame oil. Analysis of the fatty acid content of purple passion fruit seeds shows a high content of unsaturated fatty acids and low saturated fatty acids, making it a suitable source of vegetable oil for food processing.

Unsaturated acids ω-6 and ω-9 are essential acids for the body, helping to prevent cardiovascular disease, prevent cancer, lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol and triglycerides in the blood. Because purple passion fruit seed oil contains a lot of ω-6 and ω9, it has the effect of brightening the skin and is not greasy; helps to moisturize and clean the skin, nourish all skin types, especially acne-prone skin; is extremely effective against aging and dermatitis.

Find the optimal oil extraction formula

Professor Nguyen Manh Cuong said that the research team applied surfactant - Tween 20 combined with NaCl to extract vegetable oil with high efficiency, quickly, economically, non-toxic and environmentally friendly.

Unlike conventional oil extraction processes (which often use toxic solvents such as hexane, kerosene, chloroform, ethyl acetate, etc.), vegetable oil obtained from purple passion fruit seeds is extracted using surfactant - Tween 20 combined with NaCl under defined conditions such as: Concentration of surfactant and NaCl; ratio of raw material/extraction solution (volume/volume), pH; extraction temperature and extraction time.

From the technical status of the solution, the authors found that the extraction technique using non-reusable materials, toxic solvent systems, expensive complexes to produce oil from oily raw materials is a major barrier to the development of products in the vegetable oil production industry.

The process of extracting vegetable oil from purple passion fruit seeds using surfactant Tween 20 (replacing conventional toxic solvents) combined with NaCl for high efficiency is a new and creative point of useful solution.

The process of producing purple passion fruit seed oil allows the use of the oil as a starting material for the production of products for cosmetic and food applications. The oil obtained from the process according to the useful solution has antioxidant activity; it can be used alone or in combination with other products for the production of products for food and cosmetic applications.