MECHANICAL EXTRACTION OF OIL FROM WATERMELON (Citrulluslanatus) SEEDS AT DIFFERENT MOISTURE CONTENTS
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Date
2016-08-01
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UNIVERSITY OF AGRICULTURAL SCIENCES GKVK, BENGALURU
Abstract
Watermelon fruit contains large quantities of seeds and the seed oil has got
many benefits. In order to make effective and efficient utilization of seeds, in the
present investigation the physical properties of watermelon and their seeds were
measured. The oil from watermelon seeds was extracted using mechanical screw press
and the oil content was estimated using Soxtherm apparatus which works on the
principal of solvent extraction and found 38 % oil in the seeds. To optimize the effect
of temperature and moisture content on oil recovery, factorial completely randomized
design of experiments was employed and the oil was extracted at five different
temperatures viz., 30, 40, 50, 60 and 70 ºC and moisture contents viz., 4, 6, 8, 10 and
12 %. The best combination for maximum oil recovery was observed to be at 10 %
moisture content and 50 ºC temperature. As the watermelon seed oil is the renewable
energy source, the extracted oil was converted into biodiesel and subjected to study
for its quality parameters at five different levels viz., extracted crude oil, obtained
biodiesel (B-100) and three different blends such as B-30 (30 % biodiesel:70 %
diesel), B-20 (20 % biodiesel:80 % diesel) and B-10 (10 % biodiesel: 90 % diesel).
The best performance for flash point, fire point, viscosity, free fatty acid value and
calorific values were found to be 70 ºC, 80.50 ºC, 25.37 millipoise, 0.36 mg KOH/g
and 43845.03 kJ/kg, respectively.
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