Techno-economic optimization of the subcritical fluid extraction of oil from Moringa oleifera seeds and subsequent production of a purified sterols fraction

摘要

Moringa oleifera tree is found in many tropical areas, and its seed contains up to 40% of good quality edible oil where sterols are also present. In this work a techno-economic study encompassing the coproduction of oil and sterols from M. oleifeira seeds was accomplished using the RSM-COM approach. The oil is produced by subcritical fluid extraction (SFE) while the purification of the associated sterols is accomplished by a patented technology based on distillation.