Extraction of amaranth seed oil using subcritical butane and use of the generated cake for protein extraction

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine the technical feasibility of extracting amaranth seed oil with butane in a subcritical state and to take advantage of the cake generated. To this end, a type of non-germinated grain was characterized, oil was extracted from a germinated grain and the characterized one, the oil obtained was characterized, and the protein was extracted from the defatted cake of the non-germinated one. It was found that the non-germinated grain was made up of 13.33% protein, 7.24% fat, and 9.02% moisture, the optimum yield of this grain was 91%, for the germinated grain, a maximum value of 6.63% for oil mass. By comparing the characteristics of both oils, higher quality was found in the non-germinated oil, and the maximum protein extraction productivity was 5.15%. Thus, it has been concluded that this extraction method is technically feasible.