Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXI, 2017 ISSN 2285-1364, CD-ROM ISSN 2285-5521, ISSN Online 2285-1372, ISSN-L 2285-1364 CAMELINA SATIVA OIL-A REVIEW Alina-Loredana POPA1, Ștefana JURCOANE1, Brândușa DUMITRIU2 1University of Agronomic Sciences and Veterinary Medicine of Bucharest, 59 Marasti Blvd, District 1, Bucharest, Romania 2S.C. BIOTEHNOS S.A., 3-5 Gorunului Street, Otopeni, Romania Corresponding author email: [email protected] Abstract Camelina sativa is an oil seeded plant belonging to the Brassicaceae family. It can be cultivated both in winter and spring season, having a remarkable capacity to adapt and resist to difficult climate conditions. Moreover, Camelina crop has shown resistance to pests and diseases which affect other crops from the same family. The synthesis of phytoalexins seems to be responsible for the unusual camelina defense system. Camelina oil is the main product resulted by extraction from seeds. The most common extraction methods are: mechanical extraction, solvent extraction and enzymatic extraction. Recently it has been considered also the supercritical-CO2 extraction. The oil obtained contains an unsaponifiable fraction represented by tocopherols, sterols and a saponifiable fraction consisting in fatty acids. The fatty acids profile is mainly represented by unsaturated fatty acids- mono and mostly polyunsaturated (>55%) and saturated fatty acids (9.1-10.8%). The most frequent fatty acids from camelina oil are linolenic, linoleic, oleic and eicosenoic. In comparison with other Brassicaceae plants, camelina oil has a low content of erucic acid. Camelina oil, due to its composition, has multiple uses in various industries: feed technology for substitution or supplementation of other oils (fish, broilers) in animal diets, biodiesel production, jet fuel production, biopolymer industry (peel adhesion properties, paints, varnishes), cosmetic industry (skin-conditioning agent), in food products due to its high omega-3 fatty acid content and low erucic acid content and as milk fat substitution. Key words: Camelina oil, extraction, fatty acids INTRODUCTION Berti et al., 2016), winter varieties showing a high resistance to harsh climate conditions Camelina, scientifically named Camelina sativa (Berti et al., 2016). is a dicotyledonous oil seeded plant belonging Camelina cultivation requires low water and to Brassicaceae family. It is originated from fertilizers compared with other crops from the Southern Europe and South-West of Asia same family and the crop is more resistant to (Dobre et al., 2014; Vollmann et al., 2015; common pests and pathogens which usually Berti et al., 2016). affect similar crops (Kim et al., 2015). Its Morphologically, camelina has a smooth or resistance may result due to synthetizing of hairy steam, whose height may be between 65 phytoalexins (Vollmann et al., 2001). and 110 cm. The steam is ramified and as it Moreover, it was noted the adaptability of reaches maturity, it becomes woody. The camelina to different medium conditions (Berti arrow-shaped leaves, with smooth to wavy et al., 2016) and its capacity to grow in edges, are 5-8 cm long. Most of the flowers, marginal lands (Kim et al., 2015, Petre et al., with 5-7 mm diameter, are autogamous. The 2015). very small seeds are kept in silicules (Berti et In Romania, both the climate and the soil are al., 2016). favorable for camelina cultivation (Imbrea et Archeological evidences proving camelina al., 2011). existence in Europe show that its cultivation was performed since 4000 (BCE). In Romania, CAMELINA OIL EXTRACTION the camelina use is associated with the period of transition from Eneolithic to Bronze Age The principal camelina oil seed extraction (Berti et al., 2016). methods are: mechanical extraction, solvent Camelina is an annual crop which can be extraction and enzymatic extraction (Atabani, cultivated both in spring and in winter seasons 2013). (Gesch and Archer, 2013, Dobre et al., 2014 233 The oldest method used for oil extraction from Belayneh et al. (2015) compared the seeds is hydraulic pressing. It was first used in composition of oil obtained using 3 different Europe, in 1795. This method was replaced, in extraction methods: classical extractions by time, by the extraction using screw presses Soxhlet and cold pressing and supercritical- (Rosenthal et al., 1996). Nowadays, manual CO2 extraction. The extraction yields obtained ram press or engine driven screw are the most were: 35.9%-Soxhlet extraction with hexane frequently used (Atabani et al., 2013). during 6 hours, 29.9%-cold pressing extraction, The mechanical extraction doesn’t require respectively 31.6%- supercritical-CO2. The last special resources, but the oil obtained must be mentioned method showed a high efficiency subjected to additional processing like filtration regarding oil recovery-88% of the quantity and degumming (Atabani et al., 2013). recovered normally with hexane extraction. Another important aspect to be taken into There were no significant differences between consideration when choosing mechanical the compositions of the three oils. extraction is the fact that the equipment is The supercritical-CO2 extraction advantages adapted to certain types of seeds, which has an are: supercritical-CO2 is a cheap and easy to impact over the extraction yield. The seeds pre- find (Moslavac et al., 2014) green solvent treatment have also an impact on the extraction (Belayneh et al., 2015), it is easy to remove (Atabani et al., 2013). from products, it allows solvent recovery The solvent extraction was first used in 1870, consecutive to other extraction methods. The in Europe. In its beginnings the method was main disadvantage of this method is the high rarely used, but with time it has become a large price of the required equipment (Moslavac et scale process. The method can be used to al., 2014). complete the mechanical extraction (Rosenthal, The main advantage of cold pressing is that it 1996). doesn’t require organic solvents. The oil Using solvent extraction, a high yield may be obtained retains the valuable bioactive obtained, making it a favorable option for oil compounds such as: fatty acids, phenols, production at large scale. Several factors, such flavonoids, tocopherols, minerals, fibers and as particle size, extraction solvent, temperature, many others (Moslavac et al., 2014). One of stirring may influence the yields obtained with this method disadvantages is the low extraction this method (Atabani et al., 2013). Moser et al. efficiency compared to the classical solvent (2010) obtained a yield of 30.5 wt% oil from extraction. dried seeds with hexane extraction by Soxhlet The high quantity of antioxidants (tocopherols) method for 24 h. in the raw oil is a major advantage regarding its The enzymatic extraction does not produce time stability. Raw oil has a life span of 12-24 neither pollutant solvents, harmful for the months compared with the one highly environment, nor chemical substances processed through refining, bleaching, dangerous for human health, which is deodorization, which has a life span of 6-9 considered a big advantage. On the other hand, months (Berti et al., 2016). one of the disadvantages of this method is the Cold pressing is affected by temperature, fact that it is time consuming (Atabani et al., frequency and press nozzles size. Researchers 2013). have tried to optimize the camelina oil Several techniques can be used for the extraction by cold pressing. The best results extraction of camelina oil such as: warm or were obtained when using a temperature of cold mechanical pressing extraction, organic 52oC, a frequency of 20 Hz and nozzle size of 9 solvent extraction, supercritical CO2 extraction mm. In this optimal conditions, 289.5 ml of (Berti et al., 2016). camelina oil with a temperature of 32.6 oC were Berti et al. (2016) have reported a higher yield obtained (Moslavac et al., 2014). when extracting camelina oil through Soxhlet Mechanical extraction with a yield over 60% method compared with supercritical-CO2 can be done with manual or engine mechanical extraction, respectively cold mechanical presses (Atabani et al., 2013). pressing. 234 The unrefined camelina oil has a clear-yellow The fatty acids profile is mainly represented by color and a broccoli like flavor, while refined unsaturated fatty acids- mono and principally oil has no smell and has a pale-yellow color polyunsaturated (>55%) and saturated fatty (Atabani et al., 2013). acids (9.1-10.8%). (Toncea et al., 2013) Many researchers have found that the major component in the camelina oil composition is CAMELINA OIL COMPOSITION the omega-3 fatty acid- linolenic acid. Also almost the same percentages of linolenic, In the camelina oil composition can be linoleic, oleic, eicosenoic and erucic acids were distinguished two fractions: one unsaponifiable reported following studies conducted by (tocopherols, sterols) and another saponifiable different researchers, as it is shown in Table 1 (fatty acids). (Shukla et al., 2002; Abramovič and Abram, Most of the camelina oil applications are 2005; Moser et al., 2010; Jurcoane et al. 2011; possible due to its fatty acids content. Toncea et al., 2013; Katar, 2013; Belayneh et al., 2015). Table 1. Camelina oil fatty acids profile reported by different researchers Compound Content Reference C18:3-linolenic acid 30.5-50.3 % Toncea et al., 2013 32.6 % Moser et al., 2010 35.6% Jurcoane et al., 2011 28.0-33.4% Katar, 2013 32.8-33.0% Belayneh et al., 2015 38.1% Shukla et al., 2002 35.2% Abramovič and