A comparative study of various oil extraction techniques from plants.

Researchers have shown that techniques such as microwave-assisted extraction, ultrasound-assisted extraction, pressurized liquid extraction, and supercritical fluid extraction developed for extraction of valuable components from plants and seed materials have been successfully used to effectively reduce the major shortcomings of the traditional method such as Soxhlet extraction. These include shorter extraction time, increase in yield of extracted components, decrease in solvent consumption, and improvement of the quality of extracts. This review presents a detailed description of the principles and mechanisms of the various extraction techniques for better understanding and summarizes the potential of these techniques in the extraction of oil from plants and seed materials. Discussions on some of the parameters affecting the extraction efficiency are also highlighted, with special emphasis on supercritical fluid extraction. A comparison of the performance of traditional Soxhlet extraction with that of other extraction techniques is also presented. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]