Virgin Coconut Oil Production by

Centrifugation Method
(Oriental Journal of Chemistry)

VCO is one of the most valuable oil and categorized

as functional food oils because they have the potential effect
on human health. VCO can be produced through 4 common
methods, which are centrifugation, fermentation with heat,
fermentation without heat and expelling
The aim of this study are to study the production of
VCO via centrifugation and the factor that affect its
production and to determine the quantity of active
compounds present in VCO using HPLC

Introduction

1. Preparation of Coconut Milk

Fresh and mature coconut was bought from local area in
Kelantan. Rotary wedge cutter was used to disintegrate the
white coconut kernel. Coconut milk was filtered through the
filter paper before it was ready for the centrifugation
process.

Materials and Method

2. Effect of Centrifugation Speed, Times and Various Temperature

on Production of VCO

PP tube containing 50 mL fresh coconut milk was gently placed into

the centrifuge. The fresh coconut milk was centrifuged at different :
Speed of the centrifuge, which were 2000, 4000, 6000, 8000,
10000, and 12000 rpm.
Time of centrifugation, which were 15, 30, 60, 90, 120 minutes
Temperature of centrifugation, which were 20oC. This was
repeated at 25oC, 30oC, 35oC, 40oC.
After centrifuged, the upper layer part of the oil was taken out to
measure the yield of VCO by percentage.

3. Determine Moisture Content

The determination of moisture content was based on the AOAC
method. Samples were heated at 105C in an oven and weighed
crucible for at least 7 hours and cooled to a room temperature and
re-weighed with the samples inside until constant readings were
obtained. The analysis was done in triplication.
4. HPLC Analysis
0.01grams of coconut oil was added to 4mL of acetonitrile as the
sample preparation step before injecting it into the HPLC. 5L of
sample was injected into the HPLC system to analyze the fatty
acid composition. The fatty acid composition in virgin coconut
oil was analyzed using HPLC method.

Result and Discussion

1. Effect of Centrifugation Speed and

Time on Production of VCO
16.00
14.00
12.00
10.00

15 min

Yield of VCO
8.00
(%)

30 min

6.00

60 min

4.00

90 min
120 min

2.00
0.00
0

2000

4000
6000
8000 10000
Centrifugation Speed (rpm)

12000

14000

The VCO was fully produced when the highest

centrifugation speed of 12000 rpm was used at
centrifugation time of 120 minutes (13.53 %)

As
the
amount
of
centrifugation speed and time
increased, the yield of VCO
produced from fresh coconut
milk also increased. The
longer the separation process,
the more oil droplets were
allowed to be separated from
the emulsion. The more the
centrifugation speed gave
sufficient force on breaking
the emulsion on the surface of
the coconut milk to produce
coconut oil.

2. Effect of Various Temperatures on Production

of VCO
16.00
14.00
12.00
10.00
Yield of VCO
(%)

20oC

8.00

25oC

6.00

30oC
35oC

4.00

40oC

2.00
0.00
0
-2.00

2000

4000

6000

8000

10000

12000

14000

Centrifugation Speed (rpm)

The result showed the maximum of VCO

yield was at 40C at a value of 13.80%.

The parameters used in the

research only reached 40oC, so
the denaturation process did
not occur in the research.
Increasing the centrifugation
temperature will increase the
yield of VCO.
The VCO yield increased
when
the
centrifugation
temperature increased was due
to the force which was enough
to break the emulsion formed
by the coconut milk.

3. Moisture Contents (MC)

Effect of Centrifugation

% of Moisture Content

Average

Triplicate 1 Triplicate 2 Triplicate 3

Speed (rpm)

0.96

0.76

0.91

0.88

Time (min)

1.01

1.08

1.01

1.03

Temperature (oC)

0.84

0.99

0.98

0.94

The results showed that the MC of VCO ranged from 0.88% to

1.03%. These results did not fall in the range of APCC standards
(0.1 to 0.5%). The main reason of the results being out of range
from APCC standards was that the sample was not preserved well
as it was exposed to room temperature for a long period of time.

4. High Performance Liquid

Chromatography (HPLC) Analysis

The retention times of lauric acid standard and the samples were significantly
same and they did not vary too much. From the triplicate of lauric acid
standard, the highest peak area was at replicate 1. Since it gave the highest
peak, its retention time was also the shortest compared with the other two
replicates. As for the sample, the highest peak area contributed to time. It also
showed the highest retention time compared to others.

The concentration of lauric acid present in the samples of

centrifugation speed was 6.2367g. However, the calculated
concentration lauric acid present in centrifugation
temperature is the lowest which was 0.4543g meanwhile
the samples with centrifugation time gave the highest value
which was 6.4894 g.

CONCLUSION
The 12000 rpm centrifugation speed showed the best
separation compared to other centrifugation speeds. The
highest yield of VCO was 13.80% at centrifugation
temperature of 40oC. The concentration of lauric acid
present in the samples with variables of centrifugation
temperatures, speed, and time intervals were 0.4543g,
6.2367g, and 6.4894g.