Use of Date (Phoenix dactylifera L.) Palm Seed Carbon as New Filter Aid for Improving the Quality of Fried Sunflower Oil

Filtration is required to remove particles of foods and the oxidized products of oil for re-using. This investigation aimed to evaluate the efficiency of date Palm Seed Carbon (DSC) as natural filter aid in comparison with Magnesol XL as synthetic filter aid and to determinate the optimal dose and contact time of these filter aids. Some physical and chemical parameters such as refractive index, colour, viscosity, acid value, peroxide value, thiobarbituric acid value and polymer content of fresh, fried and fried-treated sunflower oil were determined. The results of this study indicate that the efficiency of 4% DSC for 60 min in removing oxidized products of fried oils was almost equal to the efficiencies of synthetic filter (Magnesol XL). Accordingly, DSC could be is recommended as an effective and cheap adsorbent for removing oxidized products of fried oils.