Oil extraction of purple passion fruit seeds grown in Vietnam

Passiflora edulis (Passiflora), commonly known as purple passion fruit, possess a high level of vitamins, dietary fibers, phenolic compounds, δ-and γ-tocopherols and healthy fatty acids which exhibit various biological activities. Hydraulic pressing is a common seed oil extraction method at industrial scale in many developing countries. In this study, extraction from P. edulis seed oil cultivated in Vietnam has been performed using hydraulic press method and the physiochemical properties of the obtained oil was investigated. Subsequently, the antioxidant activity of the oil was examined using DPPH assay. Results have shown that applying a pressure of 180 kg/cm2 in 25 min without grinding and drying the seeds would produce high oil yield (107.8 mL/kg of dry seed). The extracted seed oil possessed suitable physiochemical characteristics for edible oil and exhibited relatively high antioxidant activity. These results revealed the promising application of P. edulis seed oil in pharmaceutical industry.