Characterization of extracted fish oil from eel : effects of process parameters on extraction yield paremetres : a) drying temperature b) solvent different

Over the past 30 years more than 7000 scientific studies conducted by researches including 900 clinical trials, have provided evidence supporting the effectiveness of fish oil and omega-3 fatty acids in the prevention and treatment of some common diseases namely as cardiovascular disease, stroke, cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, rheumatoid arthritis and many more health conditions. This research focuses on finding the best condition in terms of drying temperature and solvent use for extraction process in order to gain high amount of extracted fish oil from eel, scientifically known as Monopterus albus. The fillets from the body of the fish were dried at temperature ranging from 60 – 100oC. The oil was extracted by using Soxhlet extractor by using different solvents namely as ethanol, isopropanol and n-hexane. The fatty acid composition of the oil was analyzed by using gas chromatography after being converted into methyl ester derivatives. The acid value was quantified to measure the quality of the extracted oil. Results showed that the best drying temperature was 70oC and the best solvent was ethanol. Four fatty acid found abundantly in the extracted fish oil were palmitic acid, stearic acid, oleic acid (omega-9) and linoleic acid (omega-6). The acid values reveals that the fish oil were high in quality