Abstract
Seeds are another product in addition to leaves (raw materials for teas) of tea (Camellia sinensis L.) plant. The great increase of tea consumption in recent years raises the challenge of finding commercial applications for tea seeds. In the present study, supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO2) extraction edible oil from tea seed was carried out, response surface methodology (RSM) was used to optimize processing parameters including time (20–90 min), temperature (35–45 °C) and pressure (50–90 MPa). The fatty acid composition and antioxidant activity of the extracted oil was also investigated. The highest yield of oil (29.2 ± 0.6%) was obtained under optimal SC-CO2 extraction conditions (45 °C, 89.7 min and 32 MPa, respectively), which was significantly higher (p < 0.05) than that (25.3 ± 1.0%) given by Soxhlet extraction. Meanwhile, tea seed oil extracted by SC-CO2 contained approximately 80% unsaturated fatty acids and showed a much stronger scavenging ability on the DPPH radical than that extracted by Soxhlet. SC-CO2 is a promising alternative for efficient extraction of edible oil from tea seed. Moreover, tea seed oil extracted by SC-CO2 is highly edible and has good antioxidant activity, and therefore may play a potential role as a health-promoting food resource in human diets.
Highlights
Seeds are another product in addition to leaves of tea (Camellia sinensis L.) plant
Like other Camellia genera from the Theaceae family, tea seeds are rich in oil (30–32%) [3], which is considered a kind of edible oil with high quality because the predominant fatty acids (FAs) are the monounsaturated fatty acid (MUFA) oleic acid and the polyunsaturated fatty acid (PUFA) linoleic acid [4]
The fatty acid (FA) profiles of tea seed oil extracted by SC-CO2 and Soxhlet Extraction (SE) were analyzed by gas chromatographic (GC)
Summary
Seeds are another product in addition to leaves (raw materials for green tea, black tea, oolong tea, etc.) of tea (Camellia sinensis L.) plant. As tea has become more and more popular recently, the yield of tea seed has increased. Since solvent extraction causes environmental and safety issues and mechanical pressing gives only a low yield, a safer and more efficient extraction technique is required for tea seed oil production. RSM has been successfully employed to optimize SC-CO2 extraction of oils from a variety of materials [15,16,17,18]. The objectives of this study were to employ SC-CO2 to extract oil from tea seed, to use RSM to determine the optimal conditions, including pressure, temperature and dynamic time, to determinate the fatty acid composition of the extracted oil using gas chromatographic (GC), and to evaluate the antioxidant activity of the extracted oil by 2,2-diiphenly-1-picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay
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