RAPID AND SIMPLE APPROACH TO DETERMINE FFA (FREE FATTY ACID) VALUE IN SUNFLOWER/GROUNDNUT OIL BY MEANS OF NIR TRANSMITTANCE SPECTROSCOPY

摘要

The feasibility of Near Infra-Red (NIR) Spectroscopy for non-destructive determination of Free Fatty Acid (FFA) composition in Sunflower and Groundnut oil was examined. A methodological study was conducted to test the potential of NIR Transrnittance Spectroscopy (NITS) to estimate FFA contents in sunflower and groundnut oils. For around 50 to 55 samples of Groundnut and sunflower oil with FFA contents of ranging from 0.5 to 2.5 collected from Chellakeri Chamber of Commerce were scanned with ELICO NIR Spectrophotometer Model-SL153. The analysis for FFA content was done by reference method AOCS. The same samples were scanned in the range of 1100nm to 2500nm spectral wavelength at a sample path length of 10mm, in the transmission mode. A linear relationship between the IS: 548 method and the NIR method was obtained with range of 0.95 to 0.99. PLS calibration model was used to develop calibration models from spectral data in log 1/T. The results showed that NITS is a reliable and accurate technique for estimation of FFA in Sunflower and ground nut oils. The NITS method is nondestructive and cost effective alternate, which is of great utility where a large number of samples are to be analyzed.