Drug – bio-affecting and body treating compositions – Plant material or plant extract of undetermined constitution... – Containing or obtained from brassica
Reexamination Certificate
2000-05-02
2001-12-04
Saucier, Sandra (Department: 1651)
Drug, bio-affecting and body treating compositions
Plant material or plant extract of undetermined constitution...
Containing or obtained from brassica
C426S601000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06326035
ABSTRACT:
TECHNICAL FIELD
The invention relates to a method for the production of rapeseed germ, to oil and fat, and protein composition prepared from the rapeseed germ thus produced.
BACKGROUND ART
A huge amount of rapeseeds that are used as oil seeds is mainly imported from abroad.
A rapeseed contains approximately 40-45 wt % of oil, which is the highest ratio among those of oil seeds including soybean, sesame and the like. For that reason, mechanical expression of the rapeseed can be easily carried out, and the rapeseed is a very useful material for vegetable food oil and fat.
A rapeseed oil is usually produced by first flaking the rapeseed, then subjecting the flaked rapeseed to a heat treatment, and finally expressing it by means of an expressing machine named an “expeller” so as to obtain about ½-¾ of the total oil contained in the rapeseed. The oil remaining in an expression cake, i.e., the cake obtained in the expression process, is then extracted with n-hexane.
The oil that is obtained by the expression process (referred to as “expression oil” hereinafter) and the oil that is obtained by the extraction process (referred to as “extraction oil” hereinafter) are combined and purified to give the rapeseed oil.
On the other hand, after being separated from the solvent, an extraction cake that is obtained in the extraction process is utilized mainly as fertilizer or feed. However, as these by-products other than oil is sold at a very low price, it has been desired to more effectively utilize the above by-products.
For example, it has been tried to increase a protein content by removing a hull from the rapeseed, or to increase a value of the extraction cake as feed by removing bitterness components such as tannin from it with water or an organic solvent.
Like the other oil seeds, the rapeseed consists of a cotyledon, a hull and a germ. The germs of the oil seeds other than the rapeseed, such as those of soybean, wheat, rice, corn and the like have already been actually utilized.
On the other hand, since the germ of a relatively small oil seed such as the rapeseed (ca. 1.9 mm in diameter) is very small (ca. 1.5 mm in length and ca. 0.5 mm in diameter), when compared with that of corn (ca.8 mm in length, ca.3 mm in width, and ca.2 mm in thickness), an attention has been hardly made to the rapeseed germ and no try has been made to separate and utilize a fraction of the rapeseed that has a high germ content.
The investigation of the present inventors has revealed that the ratio of the germ content in the rapeseed is approximately 12 wt %, which is much higher than that of soybean (ca.2-3 wt %).
It is therefore expected that an efficient separation and recovery of the rapeseed germ in an industrial scale could expand its utility.
For the purpose of efficiently separating and utilizing the rapeseed germ, the present inventors have studied and found that not only the hull but also the germ can be peeled off from the cotyledon during the crushing process of the gains of the rapeseed under compact stress so as to efficiently separate a fraction containing its germ as a main component. It is also revealed that the thus separated fraction has such a higher germ content as about 95 wt % at maximum than that of the soybean (75 wt % at maximum).
DISCLOSURE OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to a method for the production of a fraction containing a rapeseed germ as a main component, comprising crushing a rapeseed and separating said fraction.
The present invention further relates to oil and fat, defatted cake, and protein composition that are prepared from a material containing the rapeseed germ as a main component. Said fraction prepared according to the present invention may be used as the above material.
BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION
The present invention will be further described in more detail.
Before being subjected to the present method, grains of the rapeseed may be treated by means of washing with water, sieving-out, magnetism, suspension selection, and the like in order to optionally remove foreign substances such as grains of sand, metals, and small stones. Any variety of the rapeseed species may be used in the present invention.
The rapeseed may be crushed by any method known in the art without any limitation with respect to its principle or mechanism, making use of, for example, compressive stress, impact stress, shearing stress, and friction. For instance, an impact stress-type crusher may be used in the present invention in which a centrifugal force is applied to materials to be crushed by a disc rotting at a high speed, so that said materials will collide with baffles or pins provided in the crusher or on the wall of it. Alternatively, a pin mill-type crusher may be used in the present invention.
The impact stress-type crusher includes an entrainment-type, a hammer mill-type, a roller mill-type, etc., and any type of which may be used in the present invention.
The “crushing” means in this specification to break larger gains into smaller ones, including crude crushing, medium crushing, fine crushing and the like, depending on the size of the thus crushed grains. The degree of crushing may be optionally controlled by those skilled in the art. It is desirable in terms of yield that the germ is effectively peeled off from the cotyledon while substantially keeping its original size in the crushing process.
Prior to the crushing, the rapeseeds may be subjected to a heat or drying treatment.
The separation process may be carried out by any means known in the art without any limitation with respect to its principle or mechanism. For example, the separation may be done by making use of difference in the specific gravity such as sorting with air or under flow, or by using a sieve. The conditions in the separation process may be optionally determined by those skilled in the art depending on the means adopted in this process.
The separation process may be efficiently performed by removing the hulls and fine fractionicles with a vibrating fluidized bed, a light-fraction sucking apparatus and the like prior the separation process of the crushed rapeseeds.
The fraction separated according to the present invention, which may be also named a “germ fraction”, contains as a main component the rapeseed germ of at least 38 wt %, preferably 75 wt % or more, more preferably 95 wt % or more.
The germ fraction may be obtained by separating the crushed rapeseed into a fraction of 16 mesh or less (1 mm or less), 20 mesh (850 &mgr;m or less), or 24-32 mesh (
710 &mgr;m-500
&mgr;m) with a sieve, for example.
The oil and fat, defatted cake, and protein composition according to the present invention are prepared from a material containing the rapeseed germ as a main component. The material contains at least 38 wt %, preferably 75 wt %, more preferably 95 wt % or more for the germ. Although the germ fraction prepared according to the present invention may be used as the above material, other materials obtained by any other methods than the above separation process may be used as well.
The oil and fat according to the present invention has a lower chlorophyll content (ca.10 ppm or less) and a lower content of an eluted phosphorous component (ca. 450 ppm or less) than those contained in the rapeseed oil. Furthermore, it has a low a content of oil-soluble metals of Mg (ca.70 ppm or less) and Ca (ca.120 ppm or less). As a result, it will be easy to further purify the present oil and fat by removing the eluted phosphorous component, and the phosphorous content in a drain will advantageously low from an environmental point of view as well.
Since the oil and fat according to the present invention has a total phytosterol content of 1000 mg/100 g or more and &bgr;-sitosterol content of 500 mg/100 g or more, it is expected to show a reducing effect of cholesterol in the body.
As shown by the contents of palmitic acid of 6 wt % or more and linolenic acid of 8.5 wt % or less, the oil and fat according to the present invention has a high saturated fatty acid content and a low unsaturated ac
Morinaga Yasushi
Nakamura Toru
Nakatani Akihiro
Naruse Masayoshi
Ozawa Yoichi
Ajinomoto Co. Inc.
Oblon & Spivak, McClelland, Maier & Neustadt P.C.
Saucier Sandra
LandOfFree
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