The International Conference on Chemical Engineering UNPAR 2013
The Optimization Study on Material Condition to Reach Highest Quality of Virgin Coconut Oil Arie Febrianto Mulyadi ab
Agroindustrial Technology Department, Faculty of Agricultural Technology, University of Brawijaya, , Veteran Street, Malang, 65141, Indonesia * Corresponding author. Tel.: +62 81 79642734 ; E-mail address:
[email protected].
Abstract Virgin coconut oil (VCO) has been gaining popularity in recent times. The objectives of this research were to gain the best storage time prior to VCO processing for each plantation locations. The experimental design used in this study was a nested randomized design with two factors and the experiment was repeated three times. The first factor is the coconut plantation locations (L), which is composed of three regions, Lumajang, Malang, and the Blitar. The second factor is the coconut storage time (W), which consists of three levels: 1 week, 2 weeks, and 3 weeks. The result showed that the storage time was significantly different on the yield of VCO, moisture content, free fatty acid, peroxide value, and relative density. It was found that the best treatment was obtained from combination between Blitar region with 3 weeks storage time. The results of chemical analysis from the best treatment were moisture content 0.0439%, free fatty acids 0.0660%, peroxide value 0.0067 meq/k, relative density 0.9143 g/cm3 and the yield 19,20%, Keywords: free fatty acid, relative density, moisture content, peroxide value, relative density, yield, coconut storage time, plantation location
I. INTRODUCTION Coconut (Cocos nucifera) is one of the important commodities in Indonesia, which has a total plantation area reached 3.712 million hectares. In terms of food, the chemical composition of coconut meat contains complete essential elements such as protein, fat, carbohydrates, calcium, phosphorus, and others. With this potential oil plants can produce various kinds of products to meet human needs. As a source of income, the role of the coconut plant is very large considering this plant has the ability to produce a continuous basis throughout the year and ready for sale to meet the needs of farm families. One of the utilization of coconut that has a high economic value is the processing of coconuts into virgin coconut oil. The term VCO refers to an oil that is obtained from fresh, mature kernel of the coconut by mechanical or natural means, with or without the use of heat and without undergoing chemical refining (Villarino, Dy, & Lizada, 2007). Unlike RBD coconut oil which is tailor-made for cooking purposes, VCO is marketed lately as functional oil. Since its first introduction, virgin coconut oil has captured the attention of vast majority of publics. The beneficial properties of VCO are fast spreading. The availability of VCO is increasing in the market especially in South East Asia involving the Philippine, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia (A.M. Marina, Y.B. Che Man and I. Amin, 2009). VCO and coconut oil have been traditionally used to enhance the beauty and promote the growth of our tresses, refine and moisturizes our skin conditions as well as being used as ailments for minor illnesses such as diarrhea and skin inflammations. Nevin and Rajamohan (2010) discovered that wound healing rate was increased in skin of rats treated with topical VCO. Lans (2007) reported that Cocos nucifera was also used as an “ethonomedicine” to treat gastrointestinal problems and minor cuts, injuries and swelling. The lauric acid, a medium chain fatty acid component in VCO showed potential use as anti-obesity treatment (St-Onge and Jones, 2002; Assunção et al., 2009) as it increases energy expenditure, directly absorbed and burnt as energy in the liver, resulted in early satiety and thus leading to weight loss . Virgin coconut oil has received much attention recently. The demand for this oil continues to rise, which can be attributed not only to its superior flavor, but also to reports of its potential health benefits. Because no chemical or high heat
treatment is imposed on the oil, the beneficial minor components in the oil are retained. Virgin coconut oil is reported to lower the lipid levels in serum and tissues, and possesses high potential in protecting low-density lipoprotein against oxidative stress induced by physiological oxidants (Nevin and Rajamohan 2004). Apart from that, coconut oil is also well known for its high content of medium-chain triacylglycerols, which are used in medical and cosmetic applications (A.M. Marina, et. Al, 2006) Until now, the producers have not been paying much attention to the relationship between the condition of the raw material to the quality and yield of virgin coconut oil. Different planting site will produce different coconuts composition different anyway. Results of research conducted in Towaha, it showed that the composition of coconut meat Salak Genjah significantly different in any growing locations (Manoi and Tampake, 1999). Opinion was reinforced by statements of Setyamidjaja (1995) that each location contains coconut planting which has different nutrients and different in quality and yield of VCO. Result of taking raw materials of unknown origin causing the yield and quality of the VCO becomes unstable. In addition, the storage time of the coconut fruit is also very influential. According Setyamidjaja (1995), the length of storage time will cause the overhaul of the ingredients of sustainable food reserves so it will damage compound that is converted into triglyceride fatty acids. During the storage, coconut oil is still doing the obvious result respiration changes the chemical composition of the fruit. Currently VCO producers pay less attention to two facts above. Raw materials purchased from various planting locations and it is unknown how long in traders’ storage. In an effort to develop the VCO industry, it needs to be studied more deeply about the relationship between storage time and planting site of coconut on yield and quality of the VCO. So, it is necessary to examine the relationship between the location and the storage time of coconut processing to obtain optimal of VCO quality. II. MATERIAL AND METHODS Materials and Tools The main materials used are DALAM cultivar in three planting locations, namely Lumajang, Malang and Blitar Region. The other materials are water, filter paper, and cotton. The equipment used was a bucket, plastic jars, basins, funnels, milk strainer, filter cloth, scales, plastic tube, pipette, measuring cups and hand hydraulic press. Material analysis is benzene and methanol, neutral alcohol, 0.1 N NaOH, distilled water, ammonium thiocyanate, FeCl, and phenolphthalein (PP). Equipment includes analysis and stative burette, measuring cup, funnel, pycnometer, glass breaker, spectrophotometer, decsicator, erlenmeyer, volumetric flask, OHAUS digital scales, pipette, pipette the volume of the oven, bath, stirrer, vortex, and centrifuge machine. The Design of Experiments The experimental design used in this study was a nested randomized design with two factors and the experiment was repeated three times. The first factor is the Coconut Planting Locations (L), which is composed of three regions, Lumajang, Malang, and the Blitar. The second factor is the Coconut Storage Time (W), which consists of three levels: one week, two weeks, and three weeks. Of the two factors combined treatments obtained nine treatment. (Table 1)
Storage time (W) 1 week (W1) 2 weeks (W2) 3 weeks (W3)
Table 1. Treatments Design Planting Locations (L) Lumajang (L1) Malang (L2) Blitar (L3) L1W1 L2W1 L3W1 L1W2 L2W2 L3W2 L1W3 L2W3 L3W3
VCO Processing Coconuts is collected from three locations, namely Lumajang, Blitar and Malang region. Coconuts were selected for the study was DALAM cultivar, the local varieties, in 12 months old and have been marked with brown coconut fibre. The size and weight of the fruit is used uniformly. Coconuts after being picked and stored according to treatment (one week, two weeks, and three weeks). After reaching the specified time, it’s ready to process as VCO. The first step is stripping the coconut husk and then separating the meat from the shells and taking its water. The clean coconut meat immediately shredded. Next step, weighed and added coconut water with a ratio of 1: 2. Mixture of coconut water and stir until evenly then squeezed by hand using a hydraulic press to form coconut milk. Coconut milk is collected subsequently settling for ± 60 minutes so that the water and coconut milk (kanil) splits. Kanil in the upper layers of the water is then taken and dumped in the bottom layer. Kanil centrifuged at a
speed of 2,000 rpm for ± 30 minutes. After centrifuged, it will form three layers. The upper layer is a VCO, the middle layer is a protein (blondho) and the bottom layer is water. VCO is taken and made next filtering process. The screening process is done by using a cotton filter paper and placed on top of the funnel. VCO flowed on top of the funnel and placed in the bottom of the funnel measuring cup to hold the droplet VCO. Physicochemical analyses Parameters measured were physical and chemical properties of the VCO. Physical properties include yield, moisture content (Apriyantono,et al., 1989), peroxide value (Sudarmadji, et al., 1997), and density (Ketaren, 1989). Chemical properties measured were the number of free fatty acids (FFA) (Mehlenbacher, 1960 in Sudarmadji, et al., 1997). Data Analysis All the physico-chemical analysis and functional property measurements were carried out in triplicate. Results are expressed as mean ± standard deviations. Significant differences between means were determined by one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using Microsoft Excel 2007. Significant differences among means were established at p
