Received: May 14, 2020 / Published: May 15, 2020
The extraction of oil from passion fruit seeds with acetone, ethanol, ethyl acetate, isopropanol, and hexane was studied. The effects of the variables, namely type of solvent, material to solvent ratio, temperature, and extraction time, were investigated. The highest extraction yield was 78.52%, which was obtained using ethyl acetate with a material to solvent ratio of 1/10 at room temperature (28oC) for 4h using a shaker. This yield was similar to that obtained when using hexane as a solvent. Our results indicate that ethyl acetate can replace the conventional hexane solvent in the extraction of oil from passion fruit seeds. The high content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in passion fruit seed oil suggests that this product has good potential for use in the human food, cosmetic, and pharmaceutical industries.
