Valorization of Grapefruit Seeds: Cold Press Oil Production

PurposeThe aims of this study were valorization of grapefruit seeds by producing oil with cold press technique and characterization of the obtained oils.MethodsControl group and enzyme treated seeds were cold pressed in laboratory scale machine, and common physicochemical properties, fatty acid, sterol, tocopherol, flavonoid, phenolic acid, pigment, volatile aromatics compositions of the oils were determined in addition to their sensory descriptive analyses.ResultsIt was shown that the oil contains linoleic acid (40%), beta-sitosterol (80%) and alpha-tocopherol (220-320mg/kg oil) as the major components. Naringin, hesperidin, neohesperidin, rutin as prominent flavonoids; tr-ferulic and gallic acids as dominant phenolic acids were quantified. Furthermore 26 different (d-limonene, furfural, 3-methylbutanal etc.) volatile aromatics were determined. The oils are shown to be bioactives and aromatics rich samples, but they have strong bitter and astringent taste.ConclusionsHence, the oil could only be used to enrich other edible oils and foods for functional purposes, and could be utilised for cosmetic, chemical, energy and other purposes.