OPTIMIZATION OF PROCESSING CONDITIONS OF FLUTED PUMPKIN SEED OIL YIELD AND QUALITY USING RESPONSE SURFACE METHODOLOGY

The focus of this study is to optimize the oil yield and some physiochemical quality of fluted pumpkin seed oil under different processing conditions.The samples were separated using the laboratory sieve into fine coarse particles of 1mm, 1.5mm and 2mm. The soxhlet extractor was set at a temperature of 55, 60 and 65ºC for 3 hours for each sample. The moisture content of the seed kernel particles (8, 10 and12%) were determined using AOAC standard for oil seed. The extraction process was carried out using three (3) solvent: n-hexane, petroleum ether and methanol. Response Surface Methodology (RSM) software was employed to design and develop model equations for the extraction process. The optimal design for processing parameters and levels (moisture content (A), particle size (B), extraction temperature (C) and solvent type (D)) were adopted. The FFA, PV, pH and oil yield ranged from 12.69 to 40.89%, 6.7 to 15.56.7 meq/kg, 5.3 to 6.3 and 23.30 to 37.15%. The highest desirability index (0.872) was seen in the optimum solution with FFA of 18.487, PV of 9.397, pH of 5.937 and oil yield of 35.938% at 8% moisture content, 1mm particle size, 55oC extraction temperature using Methanol as extraction solvent.