United States Patent (19) 11) 4,444,763

Davis 45) Apr. 24, 1984

54 EXTRACTION OF AVOCADO OIL FROM Primary Examiner-Albert T. Meyers
AWOCADOS Assistant Examiner-John W. Rollins, Jr.
75 Inventor: Richard H. Davis, Valley Center, Attorney, Agent, or Firm-Donald D. Mon
Calif.
73) Assignee: Paino Avocado Company, Inc., 57 ABSTRACT
Temecula, Calif. A process for extracting raw and crude avocado oil
from avocados with optimum yield and minimal chemi
(21) Appl. No.: 372,529 cal change in the oil. Raw avocado oil is extracted from
22 Filed: Apr. 28, 1982 ripe fruit following maceration, heating, addition of
51 int. Cl. .............................................. A61K 35/78 herbaceous silicious material, and pressure extraction.
52 U.S. Cl. .................................. 424/195; 260/236.6 Crude avocado oil can be extracted from the remaining
58) Field of Search ...................... 424/195; 260/236.6 cake by refluxing with suitable solvents. The oil can
further be refined by treatment in a diatomaceous earth
(56) References Cited filter.
PUBLICATIONS
E. F. Stenmetz, Codex Vegetabilis, 814, 1957. 13 Claims, 4 Drawing Figures

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 4,444,763
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blades to relatively small pieces, and are heated, until
EXTRACTION OF AVOCALDO O. FROM the macerated, heated product is paste-like, although
AWOCADOS not necessarily withou. particles of seeds and skin.
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This material is then intimately mixed and heated
with particulate herbaceous silicious material such as
This invention relates to extraction of avocado oil rice hulls which aids in the separation of the oil from the
from avocados. solid material, this separation being accomplished with
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION a filter press to produce "raw" avocado oil.
10
The heating processes are preferably accomplished in
Avocado oil comprises a significant proportion of the the presence of minimal oxygen, using radiant and/or
fruit of the avocado. The fruit of the avocado is generi conductive heat.
cally referred to as "avocado' or as “an avocado' The above and other features of the invention will be
herein. This principally comprises avocado oil, seed, fully understood from the following detailed descrip
skin, fruit pulp and water. The oil itself has many uses, 15 tion and the accompanying drawings, in which:
among them as an ingredient in salad dressings, in vari
ous foods, in cosmetics, and in the manufacture of soap. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
Various free fatty acids and vitamins are also found in FIG. 1 is a graph showing the properties of an avo
the avocado. cado;
The avocado itself, and avocado oil, have a wide FIG. 2 is a process diagram for the major part of the
spread and growing appeal. This market appears to be processing; and
limited only by availability of the fruit, and to a lesser FIGS. 3 and 4 are process diagrams showing optional
extent by its cost. Because of the value of the land on secondary processes,
which the avocado trees are grown, the lead time re
quired to bring new trees into production, the care the DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE
trees require, their susceptibility to troublesome and 25 INVENTION
disastrous diseases, especially viruses, and their suscep
tibility to the vagaries of the weather, it is a major deci The proper selection of avocados is quite important
sion whether to start a new orchard, and how to price, to obtaining the best yield. FIG. 1 is a graphical show
process and distribute the fruit and its by-products ing of two important properties of the avocado with
which can be produced. 30 reference to its ripeness. The solid line shows that in its
One thing which can properly be stated is that when unripened state the oil content is relatively low. As the
ever avocado oil is produced, there appears to be a avocado ripens, the oil content increases, and reaches a
market for it. In view of this fact, there have been many maximum with a range of ripeness. Thereafter, the oil
efforts made to extract the oil at least cost and in best content diminishes as the avocado becomes overly rip
quality. Depending on the market for fresh avocados 35 ened.
and for processed avocado pulp in various forms such as The content of free fatty acids is shown by the dashed
frozen guacamole, the sale of avocado oil can often line. This content is relatively low in the unripe condi
comprise an important source of income. Furthermore, tion, and begins to increase substantially when the avo
it can be extracted from fruit which is of insufficient cado nears the overly ripened condition. The free fatty
quality to sell as such, or which is in excess of market 40 acids dramatically increase as the avocado becomes
demands, thereby reducing at least some of the grower's increasingly overly ripened.
risks. Ripening of the avocado after it is picked is a function
Some problems with known extraction processes for of time and of temperature. Avocados are most fre
avocado oil are (a) the use of hot water and enzymes to quently picked while still unripe, because they are then
aid in the separation of pulp from the oil, adding to the 45 quite hard, and can withstand vigorous handling and
processing problems because they tend to degrade the processing.
quality of the oil and cause dificulties in disposing of The term "ripe' is used to designate an avocado
water process water, (b) boiling of the fruit to release whose pulp, while soft and readily edible without elas
the oil, resulting in low recovery and sometimes de ticity or hardness, still tends to retain its shape and a
graded oil, and (c) the use of centrifuges or of squeezing 50 light green color. While the avocado will then yield
processes of low sophistication, which result in low oil somewhat to squeezing pressure, it is not soft or readily
yields.
It is an object of this invention to provide for efficient squeezed out of shape. Such a condition is usually asso
extraction of avocado oil at moderate temperatures, and ciated with maximum palatability.
for extracting raw oil with the addition only of herba 55 The term "overly ripe' is used to describe an avo
ceous silicious material that is readily retained during cado which is quite soft, whose bulk shape and pulp can
extraction that facilitates the extraction of the oil. readily be deformed, and which generally shows color
It is another object of this invention to obtain from and odor changes which are recognized as being be
the process some of the values which are often dis yond the limits of palatability and attractiveness.
carded with the seeds and skins. 60 The process of this invention is intended to extract
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION avocado oil from ripe avocados, because the quality and
quantity of oil are optimum in this range, and the free
This invention is accomplished with the use of ripe fatty acid content is at least minimized.
avocados, which are riper than "green' and "greener” The whole ripe avocados are charged into a macera
than overripe, in which the avocado itself has an opti 65 tor 10 (FIG. 2) having a chamber 11 in which blades 12
mum content of avocado oil, and at least a minimized are rotated by a shaft 13 that is driven by motor 14. The
content of free fatty acids. Whole ripe avocados are objective of the blades is finely to chop the avocados,
charged into a macerator, where they are macerated by and to keep the chopped mass in stirring motion.
 3
4,444,763
4.
While the avocado mass is being stirred in the macer temperature between about 150 F. and 200” F., prefera
ator, water is being extracted from it. A steam jacket 20 bly about to 185 F. The amount of rice hulls to be
encircles the chamber to heat the chamber wall, thereby added will be determined by trial and error to optimize
forming a source of radiant and/or conductive heat. the recovery and clarity of the recovered oil. Experi
The chamber is preferably maintained between 5 ments have shown that about 160 pounds of rice hulls
150-200F., which is high enough to drive off much of added to material in the tempering box which was de
the water as vapor, but not so high as to degrade the oil. rived from about 4000 pounds to whole avocados, is
Preferably about 60% of the water content will be usually enough.
driven off in macerator 10, reducing the water content This mass is now pressed to extract the avocado oil.
to about 7% to 10% by weight. 10 A simple screw press filter 35 is suitable. It is not neces
The macerator can be operated as a batch processor, sary to resort to filter cloths or the like. A compara
although it can instead be operated on a continuous feed tively coarse screeen or series of parallel screen blades
basis, by arranging the blades so they gradually advance is adequate, and a good quality, quite clear raw avocado
the mass from a feed end to a discharge end. The avo oil is expressed. The retained cake is dark brown, and
cado mass is preferably reasonably smooth in texture, 5 includes the rice hulls and the avocado residues such as
although there will be pieces of seeds, and skin through skin, seeds, and meal. Also there remains between about
out the mass. The oil is primarily contained in the pulp. 5% and 10% avocado oil by weight. The herbaceous
The mass is carried by a conveyor 25 to a tempering silicious material provides additional bulk for expres
box 26, which is maintained at a temperature between sion of the avocado oil, and a certain slickness that also
about 150-200' F. A stem jacket 27 or other means to 20 seems to improve the expressing of the avocado oil. The
provide radiant and/or conductive heat to the mass, cake is heavily pasty, and is readily retained by the
surrounds chamber 28 of the tempering box. Stirring press. Of course different types of presses can be used,
means 29, such as blades 30 mounted to shaft 31 that is but a screw press is a relatively inexpensive machine
turned by a motor 32 stir the mass. which is easily maintained, and is very acceptable for
All heating is preferably done in regions which are at 25 the purpose.
least restricted to the entry of oxygen. While this does The resulting raw avocado oil can be cleaned up by
not necessarily mean anaerobic conditions still it does finer filtration to remove small entrained particulates,
mean the exclusion of oxygen to the maximum conve and will contain all of its vitamins and free fatty acids. If
nient extent so as to minimize oxidation of the product. it is desired to remove the vitamins and free fatty acids,
For example, the water vapor that is driven off also 30 the raw oil can be passed through a diatomaceous earth
tends to exclude oxygen. Exclusion of oxygen represses filter which will remove them. Such a filter would also
the tendency of the oil and other components of the remove particulates. The vitamins and free fatty acids
mass to be oxidized. remain in the diatomaceous earth, from which they can
Silicious material to facilitate expressing of the oil and later be reclaimed.
expansion of the mass is added in this tempering operat 35 While the cake from the screw press is directly useful
ing. The presently preferred silicious material is rice for such purposes as animal feed, the residual avocado
hulls. It constitutes an example of a particulate fibrious oil, vitamins, and free fatty acids may sometimes have
herbaceous silicious material that has a relatively high sufficient value to merit extraction from the cake. FIG.
silica content-namely between about 360 to 400 lbs. 3 shows a technique for such an extraction. A retort 50
per ton of hulls (18% to 20% by weight). This is much 40 has a kettle base 51, a lid 52, heater coils 53, and a perfo
higher than is found in most other herbaceous high rated basket 54. The basket is filled with the cake and
silica materials, and for that reason is the preferred suspended in the closed retort. A suitable solvent is
substance. placed in the retort and heated so as to evaporate and
However, there are other useful high silica plants, reflux through the cake. As a consequence, after suffi
and parts of plants, whose silica concentration runs 45 cient refluxing the avocado oil, vitamins and free fatty
between about 5%-20% silica by weight, and plant acids will be leached from the cake, and will collect in
materials in this range are referred to as herbaceous the base, from which they are drained. The solvent can
silicious material. Rice (Oriza Sativa), especially its be recovered from the oil by conventional means such
straw, is a useful and readily available material. Some as by applying sufficient heat to drive off the volatile
grasses also have this property, for example wheat (Trit 50 solvent.
icum Aestivum) and rye (Secale Cereale). Some plants The solvent to be used should be safe for foods, be
which are not grasses also have this property, for exam cause the avocado oil may ultimately be consumed. For
ple the sunflower (Helianthus Sp.) and horsetails (Equi this purpose, methylene chloride is a preferred sub
setum Sp.). The silica will usually be concentrated in stance. It is generally recognized as safe (“grass'), and
some specialized part of the plant, and this part will be 55 can be removed at about 150 C.
used. The avocado oil recovered in this leaching process is
The point is, the addition of a herbaceous fibrous sometimes referred to as "crude' avocado oil. As with
silicious plant material (having more than 5% SiO2 by any secondary oil recovery, the quality of the crude oil
weight) to the mass will significantly improve the yield will not be as high as that of the raw oil from the virgin
of avocado oil. Rice hulls are the most useful material 60 press, but each has its uses, and the two oils may even be
because they are of a convenient size, are inexpensive combined to form a useful product.
and readily available, and have about the highest silica FIG. 4 shows the previously described filtration of
content of any readily available and suitable herbaceous avocado oil in a diatomaceous earth filter 60. The re
material. sulting oil (from raw and/or crude avocado oil) may be
The mass is mechanically mixed in the macerator and 65 termed "purified' oil. The cake can be subjected to
or the tempering box, so that the rice hulls are uni tertiary processes to recover vitamins and/or free fatty
formly distributed throughout, and sufficient residence acids. Such tertiary recovery forms no part of this in
time is allowed that the mass is uniformly warmed to a vention, and is therefore not discussed here.
 4,444,763
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A very useful product is the raw vitamin oil, filtered 3. A process according to claim 2 in which oxygen is
free of particulates in a fine filter. substantially excluded from the process during steps b
This invention thereby provides an improved process and c.
for the recovery of avocado oil, both raw and crude, 4. A process according to claim 1 in which steps b
using simple equipment, and causing minimal change to 5 and c are conducted at temperatures between about
the natural properties of the oil. 150' and 200' F.
This invention is not to be limited to the embodiments 5. A process according to claim 1 in which said plant
shown in the drawings and described in the description, material is derived from the plant Oriza Sativa.
which are given by way of example and not of limita 6. A process according to claim 5 in which said plant
tion, but only in accordance with the scope of the ap 10 material is rice hulls.
pended claims. 7. A process according to claim 6 in which steps b
I claim: and c are conducted at temperatures between about
1. A process for extracting avocado oil from avoca 150' and 200 F.
dos, comprising: 8. A process according to claim 1 in which step d is
15 conducted in a screw press.
a. selecting ripe whole avocados; 9. A process according to claim 1 in which step d
b. macerating and heating said avocados to reduce produces
them to a fine consistency and removing a substan leached in aa solventresidue cake, and in which said cake is
in which avocado oil is soluble, and
tial portion of their water content; which is safe for foods, said solvent being thereafter
c. adding herbaceous silicious plant material, having a 20 removed
silica content in excess of about 5% weight, to the cado oil. from said oil, thereby to produce crude avo
product of step b, in such proportion as signifi 10. A process according to claim 8 in which said
cantly to improve the recovery and clarity of avo solvent is methylene chloride.
cado oil as compared with identical processing 11. A process according to claim 9 in which said
without said herbaceous plant material, and con 25
tinuing to heat it while mixing in said plant material crude
earth
avocado oil is passed through a diatomaceous
filter to remove vitamins and free fatty acids
to form a substantially uniform mass; and therefrom.
d. pressing the mass produced in step c to extract raw 12. A process according to claim 9 in which said raw
avocado oil from it, the temperature to which the avocado oil is also passed through said diatomaceous
avocados and plant material is heated, being suffin 30 earth filter to remove vitamins and free fatty acids
ciently elevated to encourage the vaporization of therefrom, said raw and crude avocado oils being mixed
water, but insufficiently elevated to significantly and simultaneously passed through said filter.
degrade the avocado oil. 13. A process according to claim 1 in which said raw
2. A process according to claim 1 in which the heat avocado oil is passed through a diatomaceous earth
ing in band c is provided by radiant and/or by conduc- 35 filter to remove vitamins and free fatty acids therefrom.
tive means. x: : k sk

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