Investigation of Heating and Freezing Pretreatments on Mechanical, Chemical and Spectral Properties of Bulk Sunflower Seeds and Oil

Abstract

The present study examined the effects of heating and freezing pretreatments on the mechanical, chemical, and spectral characteristics of sunflower seeds and oil under a linear compression process involving a universal compression-testing machine and a pressing vessel of diameter 60 mm with a plunger. The heating temperatures ranged from 40 to 80 °C and freezing temperatures from −2 to −36 °C at constant heating time of 30 min. The pretreated samples of initial height of 80 mm (22.6 × 10−5 m3) were compressed under a preset load of 100 kN and a speed of 5 mm/min. The results showed that oil expression efficiency significantly increased (p < 0.05) with increased heating temperatures but decreased with freezing temperatures. The lowest energy per volume oil of 22.55 ± 0.919 kJ/L was recorded at 80 °C compared to 26.40 ± 0.307 kJ/L noticed at −2 °C and control (25 °C) of 33.93 ± 3.866 kJ/L. The linear regression equations expressing oil expression efficiency, energy per volume oil, peroxide value, and free fatty acid, dependent on heating and freezing temperatures, were described with coefficients of determination between 0.373 and 0.908. Increased heating temperatures increased the UV absorption rate of the oil samples at a wavelength of 350 nm. The study is part of the continuing research on linear compression modeling of all processing factors, whereby the results are intended to be applied to the non-linear process dealing with a mechanical screw press to improve the oil extraction process.