Effect of refining on the quality and composition of groundnut oil

Abstract

Crude groundnut oil was obtained by solvent extraction from groundnut seeds and refined. The crude and
refined oils were then analyzed. The results obtained show that the acid value decreased from 2.890 to 0.420
mg/KOH. Free fatty acid decrease after refining from 2.82 to 2.02%; phospholipids decreased from 23.11 to
5.53%; copper content decreased from 0.37 to 0.0361% and iron decreased from 3.98 to 0.31%. These can be
viewed as an improvement in the quality of the oil after refining. Refining did not have much effect on the fatty
acids composition except for slight inconsistent decrease in saturated and unsaturated fatty acids.