Oxidative stability and tocopherol concentration of canola oil extracted using supercritical CO2

Abstract

In this work the characteristics of canola seed oil extracted using supercritical CO2 under different conditions and its oxidative stability were analyzed and compared with those corresponding to the oil extracted with hexane. The oil with the lower oxidative stability was that extracted at 276 Kg/cm2. All the oils extracted with supercritical CO2 showed a lower oxidative stability than the oil obtained by hexane extraction. Although the hexane extracted oil did not show a significant difference in its tocopherol concentration, its carotenoid concentration was the highest, which could be a reason for the higher oxidative stability of that oil. The oil extraction rate was constant during the whole extraction period, but the rate of tocopherol extraction was higher at the beginning of the process, which suggests a possible co-solvent effect of the oil itself on these compounds.

Keywords

• canola oil
• oxidative stability
• supercritical extraction
• tocopherols