Exploring the Potential of Sago Caterpillars as Cooking Oils: Extraction, Purifying and Characterization.

Abstract

<b>Background and Objective:</b> The dual demand for palm oil, both as a cooking oil and as a raw material for biodiesel, gives rise to concerns regarding potential shortages. Hence, it is crucial to explore alternative sources of cooking oil, with one such alternative being the oil extracted from sago caterpillars. This study aims to extract and determine the characteristics of sago caterpillar oil and its potential as cooking oil. <b>Materials and Methods:</b> Sago caterpillar oil extraction was done using pressing, Soxhlet extraction and Folch's lipid extraction. The yield of sago caterpillar oil obtained by pressing, Soxhlet and Folch's lipid extraction were 20, 16 and 2.2%, respectively. Oil purifying was done using degumming, neutralization and bleaching. Furthermore, the resulting sago caterpillar oil was characterized physically, chemically and organoleptic. <b>Results:</b> The sago caterpillar oil met the requirements as cooking oil based on the Indonesian National Standard for cooking oil and other chemical parameters. The results of the analysis of sago caterpillar oil with gas chromatography-mass spectrometer showed that the sago caterpillar oil contained 0.15% lauric acid, 2.06% myristic acid, 5.92% palmitoleic acid, 55.05% palmitic acid, 0.84% linoleic acid, 34.00% oleic acid and 1.43% stearic acid. The main peak positions from the fourier transform infrared spectrophotometer are at 725, 1118, 1165, 1234, 1373, 1458, 1743, 2854 and 2924 cm<sup>1</sup>. The results of the analysis of sago caterpillar oil showed that the lipid profile of sago caterpillar oil was similar to commercial palm oil. <b>Conclusion:</b> Based on the results of extraction, purifying and characterization, it was concluded that sago caterpillar oil has the potential to be used as cooking oil.