Impact of extraction method on yield of lipid oxidation products from oxidized and unoxidized walnuts

The objective of this study was to measure and compare differences in oxidized products of oil extracted from unoxidized and oxidized walnuts using five different extraction methods: (i) mechanical pressing, or solvent extraction with (ii) hexane, (iii) methylene chloride, (iv) chloroform/methanol, or (v) supercritical carbon dioxide (SC−CO₂). Of the extraction methods evaluated, only chloroform/methanol and methylene chloride provided reasonable results for all parameters measured (total lipid yield, FA profile, PV, conjugated dienes, FFA content, and volatile content); however, chloroform/methanol extracted significantly greater levels of volatile compounds. The SC−CO₂ extraction with purified gas was simple and accurate for all data except collection of volatile compounds, as these materials are lost during the lipid extraction. Pressing was neither quantitative nor qualitative, and hexane extraction retrieved significantly lower levels of volatiles than the other methods, except for SC−CO₂.