Alternative to conventional edible oil sources: Cold pressing and supercritical CO2 extraction of plum (prunus domestica L.) kernel seed

Abstract

Plum (Prunus domestica L.) is a fruit widely cultivated across Europe and its processing generates a considerable amount of waste in form of discharged plum kernels. This creates a new opportunity to exploit plum kernels in order to provide an alternative to conventional edible oils. The main aim of this study was to obtain high-quality oil from plum kernel seeds by applying traditional cold pressing (CP) and supercritical carbon dioxide (ScCO2) extraction as a modern technology. The obtained oils were characterized based on the chemical composition of fatty acids and tocopherols. In obtained oils, twelve fatty acids were identified. The oleic acid was the most dominant in both oils (68.66% in oil obtained by ScCO2, 65.86% in oil obtained by CP), followed by linoleic acid (22.24-25.44%). While total tocopherols content in oil obtained by ScCO2 was 4 to 5.8-fold higher than CP. The results proved that the utilization of plum kernel seeds possess high potential as an alternative oil source due a high amount of oleic acid and tocopherols and a low amount of saturated fatty acids and amygdalin.