Affiliations 

  • 1 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia
  • 2 Department of Chemical Engineering, College of Engineering, Khalifa University, P. O. Box 127788, Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates
  • 3 School of Energy and Chemical Engineering, Xiamen University Malaysia, Bandar Sunsuria, 43900, Sepang, Selangor, Malaysia. kitwayne.chew@xmu.edu.my
  • 4 Department of Chemical and Environmental Engineering, Faculty of Science and Engineering, University of Nottingham Malaysia, Jalan Broga, 43500, Semenyih, Selangor Darul Ehsan, Malaysia. PauLoke.Show@nottingham.edu.my
Bioprocess Biosyst Eng, 2021 Sep;44(9):1807-1818.
PMID: 34009462 DOI: 10.1007/s00449-021-02577-9

Abstract

Virgin coconut oil is a useful substance in our daily life. It contains a high percentage of lauric acid which has many health benefits. The current industry has developed several methods to extract the oil out from the coconut fruit. This review paper aims to highlight several common extraction processes used in modern industries that includes cold extraction, hot extraction, low-pressure extraction, chilling, freezing and thawing method, fermentation, centrifugation, enzymatic extraction and supercritical fluid carbon dioxide. Different extraction methods will produce coconut oil with different yields and purities of lauric acid, thus having different uses and applications. Challenges that are faced by the industries in extracting the coconut oil using different methods of extraction are important to be explored so that advancement in the oil extraction technology can be done for efficient downstream processing. This study is vital as it provides insights that could enhance the production of coconut oil.

* Title and MeSH Headings from MEDLINE®/PubMed®, a database of the U.S. National Library of Medicine.