Vol. 10, Issue 4 (2021)

Author(s):
Mohan Naik, Venkatachalapathy Natarajan, Ashish Rawson, Jaganmohan Rangarajan and Loganathan Manickam

Abstract:
Food industries are always keen to search and adopt novel extraction methodologies to replace the traditional extraction method. Bitter melon leaves, bark, roots, stem and seeds were used in traditional medicine to cure various health associated diseases from ancient years. Bitter melon seeds one such byproduct obtained after processing of Bitter melons. Nutritionally and therapeutically, it is rich in various phytochemicals and active ingredients. Hence, in the present study, an effort has been made to utilize the Bitter melon seeds to extract oil using novel extraction methodologies (under per optimized extraction conditions), namely, microwave-assisted extraction (MAE), ultrasound-assisted extraction (UAE) and ohmic heat-assisted extraction (OAE). The bio-based solvent p-cymene was used for extraction. The quality aspect of extracted oil was assessed and compared with other extraction methods. The obtained results indicate that there is a significant change in the quality parameter in all the samples. The highest FFA of 8.37 (% oleic acid) for MAE followed by OAE (5.57 % oleic acid), CP (4.48 % oleic acid), SXE (4.37 % oleic acid), and lowest of 4.01 for UAE was found. A similar trend in changes in color, smoke point and acid value was seen. From the obtained analysed data, it can be inferred that ultrasound-assisted extraction can produce good quality of Bitter melon seeds oil than the other extraction method. Hence, UAE could serve as a better process intensification tool to extract high-quality, stable oil from biological materials. In addition, the quality of oil has a great influence on the method of extraction and processing conditions.