Extraction of Oil from Mulberry and Eri Silkworm Pupae and Analyzing the Physio-Chemical Properties for Commercial Utilization.

Silkworm pupal oil was extracted using different solvents from spent dried pupal powder by soxhlet and column extraction methods. The oil content from spent silkworm pupae was maximum recovered from mulberry silkworm pupae (25.90 g/100 g) with hexane solvent in the column extraction method. The better physio-chemical properties viz., density (0.943 g/mL), specific gravity (0.991 g/mL), saponification value (235.147 g KOH/ g oil), iodine value (131.653 g I/ 100 g) and free fatty acids (5.057 %) were observed in the eri silkworm pupal oil, whereas, maximum acid number (1.966 mg KOH/g oil) and peroxide value of (2.44 ppm) was noticed in mulberry silkworm pupal oil. Hence, mulberry silkworm pupae were effectively used for oil extraction by column extraction method using hexane, and these physio-chemical properties of pupal oil were achieved the desired level for utilizing the silkworm pupae oil as commercial utilization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]