Extraction Of Oil From Coconut And Its Characterization

1.1 Background of the study

Coconut oil is an edible oil that has been consumed in tropical countries for thousands of years. As it has a long shelf life and a melting point ohgf 76 of. It is used in baking industries. A negative campaign against saturated fats in general and the tropical oils in particular led to most food manufacturers abandoning coconut oil in recent years in favor of hydrogenated polyunsaturated oils, particularly soy. Which contains trains fatty acids. Studies done on populations consuming diets high in coconut oil show no adverse effects on the health of the populations. Coconut oil has >90% saturated fatty acids. Hence is less attractive to consumers. Saturated fat is one that has no unsaturated or double bonds and tends to be solid at room temperature. Coconut oil is rich in short and medium chain fatty acids. Shorter chain length allows fatty acids to be metabolized without use of the carnitine transport system.

Coconut oil contains a large proportion of lauric acid a saturated fat that arises total blood cholesterol levels by increasing both the amount of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. Although this may create a more favorable total blood cholesterol profile this does not exclude the possibility that persistent consumption of coconut oil may increase the risk of cardiovascular disease through other mechanisms, particularly via the marked increase of blood cholesterol induced by lauric acid. Because the majority of saturated fat in coconut oil is lauric acid, coconut oil may be preferred over partially hydrogenated vegetable oil when solid fats are used in the diet. Due to its high content of saturated fat with corresponding high caloric burden, regular use of coconut oil in food preparation may promote weight gain.

Various fractions of coconut oil are used as drugs. Butyic acid is used to treat cancer, while lauric acid is effective in treating viral infections. Hence, the literature is reviewed in the context of increase of fat related disorders/diseases through consumption of highly unsaturated oils.

A novel method on improving quality of coconut oil (Cocos nucifera L.) to produce best quality of coconut oil for industrial application is increased. One of them is a method of extraction through fermentation or enzymatic system (Rosenthal et al. 1996). Virgin coconut oil (VCO) is made from fresh coconuts, not copra. Since high temperatures and chemicals solvent are not used, the oil retains its naturally occurring phyto-chemicals which produce a distinctive coconut taste and smell. The oil is pure white when the oil is solidified, or crystal clear like water when liquefied. The oil contained high lauric acid (C-12, c.a. 50%) as saturated fatty acid and has known well as medium chain fatty acid (MCFA). MCFAs are burned up immediately after consumption and therefore the body uses it immediately to make energy rather than store it as body fat (Enig, 1996; Kabara, 1984).

Studies have revealed that populations who traditionally consume large quantities of coconut as apart of their diet have a low incidence of health problems associated with blood clotting, including heart disease and stroke (Prior et al., 1981). Coconut oil is very stable and does not need to be refrigerated since it contains a saturated fatty acid, because all the carbon-atom linkages are filled or saturated with hydrogen. This means that they do not normally go rancid, even when they heated, degraded, irradiated, oxygenated for cooking or other purposes (Issacs, 1986; Rindengan and Novarianto, 2004).

The coconut oil processed by fermentation or enzymatic system has more beneficial and safety effect rather than traditional methods from copra, since they often infected by insects or aflatoxin producing molds that caused potential toxicity problem during manufacturing. Traditional coconut oils are considered to be low quality products which indicated by high moisture and free fatty acid content. It was therefore easily to rancid and turned to brown and exhibited relatively short life-time by sensory test (Soeka et al., 2008).

Extraction process of coconut oil through fermentation or enzymatic system involved microbial starter inoculums or enzymatic starter that play a role on breaking of coconut milk emulsion, while through traditional processes the oil extraction was carried out physically by using of heating or mechanical expelling (Ketaren, 1986). Activities of enzymes were affected by substrate and enzyme concentration, pH, temperature, and incubation time (Pelczar and Chan, 1986). Microbial starter was utilized as their shown on proteolytic, amylolytic and lipolytic capacities. These kinds of enzymes are required to hydrolyze protein, carbohydrate and lipid components contained in the coconut kernel. Basically, the purpose of the fermentation or enzymatic processes is to make the coconut emulsion into unstable condition and therefore easily to separate into oil phase on upper layer and carbohydrate, protein and water phase on below layer (Soeka et al., 2008; Rahayu et al., 2008).

The purpose of research was to develop the extraction method of coconut oil to produce high quality coconut oiland expectedly useful for improving technology on extraction of coconut oil naturally.