Optimization of ultrasonic-assisted extraction of sesame oil

Sesame is one of the oldest cultivated plants in the world and is one of the oldest oily products used by humans. Sesame oil is an important industrial, oral and medicinal oil. Today, the use of ultrasound has grown significantly due to its effects on food storage and processing.

In this research, the response level model was used to study the effects of two variables of grain to solvent ratio and extraction time by fractional irradiation on dependent variables of extraction efficiency, peroxide number, 2- tiobarbituric acid, L, a, and b colorparameters and type and amount of fatty acids.

The results of variance analysis showed that the increase in solvent to seed and extraction time by ultrasound had a significant effect (P≤0.01) on extraction efficiency. Optimum operating conditions for maximum efficiency were extraction time of 55 min and solvent to seed ratio of 0.25.

 It is important to mention that the ultrasonic extraction process with less processing time resulted in more efficiency than the Soxhlet method. It was also shown that ultrasound did not have an inappropriate effect on the extracted oil color and in some cases, it even improved the color of the extracted oil.