| Scope and Method of Study. The objective of this study is to investigate the aqueous enzymatic extraction of wheat germ oil. Four enzymes (Viscozyme L, Multifect CX 13l, Multifect CX GC and Alcalase 2.4L FG) were used to compare their effectiveness on oil extraction yield. Response surface methodology was applied to investigate the effects of processing parameters, and optimize the aqueous enzymatic oil extraction process.;Findings and Conclusions. The results of this study showed that Alcalase 2.4L FG was the only enzyme that affects the oil extraction yield. The optimization of the aqueous extraction of oil with this enzyme in boric acid-NaOH buffer resulted in about 40% oil extraction yield. However, this is much lower than the highest oil yield given by the corresponding non-enzymatic process (about 70%). In conclusion, the aqueous enzymatic process was not effective in extracting oil from wheat germ within the range of this study. |
