COMPARATIVE ASSESSMENT OF COCONUT OILS PROCESSED FROM DRY AND WET EXTRACTION TECHNIQUES

This work studied the production and characterization of coconut oil using dry and wet extraction methods. Both methods yielded oil to varying levels of 42.13% and 31.94% for dry and wet methods respectively. The characteristics of the produced oils showed variations. The data obtained under this investigation were analyzed statistically using Paired Two Sample for Means t-Test to verify significant differences in the means of samples. Comparatively however, the physiochemical properties of the oil from wet extraction were slightly but significantly better than those of the oil from dry extraction in terms of freshness and oil spoilage parameters. The slightly lower quality of the dry extracted oil was attributed to possibly oxidation of oil in coconut meat prior to extraction since it was exposed during drying. Generally, the Coconut Oils produced in this work presented satisfactory properties in line with accepted standards for Coconut Oil. The adoption of this procedure for production of Coconut Oil will assist producers in quality production.