TEMPERATURE AND MECHANICAL EXTRACTION EFFECT ON CHEMICAL COMPOSITIONS OF ARGANIA SPINOSA L SEED OIL OF EASTERN REGION OF MOROCCO

Abstract

This study focuses on yields, chemical quality, composition, and the stability of the fatty acids of the oil extracted from Argania spinosa L seeds, collected from the eastern region of Morocco, influenced by the temperature of mechanical extraction methods. The results of this study revealed that A.spinosa is a rich source of oil. The obtained oil yields varied from 49,88±0.03 for the cold press to 55,62±0.06 for the hot press, the main fatty acids found in Argania spinosa are oleic acid by 37,218%±0.05 for (cold press) and 37,26%±0.18 (hot press) and linoleic acid 29,69%±0.10 for (cold press) and 32,12% ±0.11 (hot press). The oil of Argan could be classified as an oleic acid. Among the tocopherols found, a high value of g-tocopherol has been detected in the cold press with 622,7±1,12 mg/kg, and the hot press with 610,01± 3,33mg/kg. Our results revealed the effect of temperature, that when we increase the temperature used, the yields increase also, the findings shown also that this high temperature do not affect physico-chemical proprieties, fatty acids and tocopherols.

The results of the present study reveal that the oil of A. spinosa could be used in cosmetics and pharmacological products.