EVALUATION OF THREE OIL EXTRACTION PROCESSES FOR HASS VARIETY AVOCADO (Persea americana Mill.)

Resumen

The pulp of avocados has a high oil concentration that is usually extracted with hexane, a nonpolar solvent that affects yield and poses health and environmental hazards. This problem requires the exploration of alternative extraction techniques, such as centrifugation. In this work, three avocado oil extraction methods were evaluated for Hass avocado (Persea americana Mill.) using proton (¹H) and carbon (¹³C) nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy to assess oil quality. One kilogram of avocado was purchased in 2023 at the Zapata market in Puebla City, Mexico. A controlled experimental design was used, with triplicate replications. Avocado pulp (250 g) was dehydrated at 70 °C for 24 h in a convection oven and then homogenized to a particle size of 250 µm. Oil extraction was performed using three methods with 1 g of dehydrated pulp: 1) Soxhlet extraction with hexane at 60 °C for 4 h, 2) maceration with hexane at 25 °C for 24 h, and 3) centrifugation at 11 000 rpm (15 557 × gravity) at 40 °C for 10 min. Oil quality was evaluated using ¹H-NMR and ¹³C-NMR, with acquisition times of 2049 and 4.5 s, respectively. The highest yield (78 %) was obtained using the first method. However, the second and third methods showed minimal oxidation of their double bonds and lower generation of free fatty acids due to their lower processing temperatures. The third method was the most effective, as the oil retained its characteristic sensory properties and did not require further refinement.