Extraction of oil from oilseeds

The exploitation of conventional extraction techniques allows the usage of organic solvents, which may exert adverse effects on health, environment, and safety. Regarding green extraction techniques, the researchers have fostered their keen efforts to use green extraction solvents such as ionic liquids, terpenes, carbon dioxide, ethyl acetate, ethanol, and water and its binary solutions. The green solvents do pose any potential threat to the environment as these solvents do not pose and aggravate issues of pollution and remain stable in the form of liquid over a temperature range of 0–140°C. As the chemical structure, composition, and physicochemical properties of each oilseed are different, therefore, there is a dire need to explore the scale-up suitability in innovative and technological ways. In this chapter, eco-friendly extraction methods, such as ultrasound-assisted extraction, microwave-assisted extraction, pulsed electric field extraction, and aqueous enzymatic extraction, as well as supercritical fluid extraction, have been explored. The combination of green solvents with those of eco-friendly extraction methods led to achieving quality oilseed extracts. These techniques are eco-friendly owing to the reduction of the generated chemical load, usage of renewable feedstock, and reduced emissions of the organic solvents into the environment. Moreover, these eco-friendly green methods may also cause a reduction in the steps involved in downstream processing. Furthermore, the utilization of green methods allowed reduced usage of time, solvent, and energy as well as downstream processing (solvent reclamation) without compromising the recovery and quality of the extracts.