Effects of low-temperature refining process on the quality profile and bioactive components of Camellia Oleifera Abel seed oil

Camellia Oleifera Abel seed oil contains a variety of functional components such as high levels of bioactive compounds. Its nutritional composition is very similar to those in the best vegetable olive oil, so is even called as"oriental olive oil". However, Camellia Oleifera Abel seed oil also contains certain undesirable non-glyceride materials and odors, which need to be removed for commercial products. A proper refining temperature would display critical roles to the oil quality in the refining processes because most of the bioactive components are heat sensitive. In present study the inadequacies of the classical refining temperatures have been reduced drastically, and the optimized lower-refining temperatures were used in the refining process for Camellia Oleifera Abel seed oil. Results indicated that the optimized refining process could remove as much the undesirable materials as the classical refining method does, and the quality profiles of the refining product from the optimized refining process meets entirely on the industrial standards of the Chinese National Standards Specification for Camellia Oleifera Abel seed oil(GB 11765-2003). Moreover, in comparing with the oil refined from the classical refining process, the retention rates of bioactive components in refined oil from the optimized refining process have been increased by 59.2% of sterols, 54.3% of squalene, 56.2% of tocopherol and 67.8% of vitamin D₃, respectively.