A novel process for extraction of tea oil from Camellia oleifera seed kernels by combination of microwave puffing and aqueous enzymatic oil extraction

The objective of this study was to extract the oil from Camellia oleifera seed kernels by aqueous enzymatic oil extraction (AEOE). We describe a novel process for extraction of tea oil preceded by tea saponin extraction from C. oleifera seed kernels. The extraction efficiency obtained with microwave‐assisted extraction (MAE) is very high, which the recovery yield is up to 83% in 30 s and the saponins in camellia seed kernels can be completely removed by the second MAE. Moreover, an important step in the process development has been the pretreatment by microwave puffing of camellia seed kernel residues followed by AEOE increased oil extraction yield from 53% to 95%, which will is comparable to hexane oil extraction yields from plant materials.