Abstract

The effect of enzyme incorporation is analyzed over the yield of grapeseed oil extraction by cold pressing. By this type of process the objective is to preserve grapeseed active compounds and to diminish the environmental impact in comparison to oil extraction conventional methods which use higher temperatures. The enzymatic hydrolysis takes place with a commercial enzyme previous to pressing stage. Its effectiveness is compared to a control without the biocatalyst. An oil extraction yield of 72 % d.b. is obtained with an enzymatic pre-treatment for 4 hours at 50°C, and 60% of moisture, increasing in 26 % the control result. It is concluded that the incorporation of an enzymatic processing would be a feasible alternative to extract grapeseed oil under softener process conditions improving the yield of extraction in comparison to the same type of methodology without an enzyme.