Study of the oxidative stability via Oxitest and Rancimat of phenolic-rich olive oils obtained by a sequential process of dehydration, expeller and supercritical CO extractions.

The oxidative stability of olive oils extracted by different methods, i.e. conventional 2-phase extraction (cOO), and sequential extraction by expeller press (eOO) and supercritical CO (SCOO), was determined by using two accelerated oxidation methods, Oxitest and Rancimat, in the temperature range 90-160°C. The kinetic analyses carried out provided Arrhenius activation energies, enthalpies, entropies and Gibb's free energies of activation, temperature coefficients, Q factors, and the oxidative stability indexes at 20°C (OSI) for the different oils. A good correlation between the two techniques was obtained (r = 0.996). Oxitest showed, however, shorter induction times and less sample quantity (1 g vs. 3 g in Rancimat) requirements, suggesting that it could be a good and faster alternative to Rancimat for the evaluation of the oil oxidative stability. cOO showed OSI values of 38.5 and 42.5 months, by the Rancimat and Oxitest methods, respectively. Furthermore, eOO and SCOO showed OSI values of 43.3 and 138.6 months by Rancimat and 67 and 142 months by the Oxitest method, respectively. The strong correlation found between the phenolic content of the oils and their OSI values confirms that a higher oil phenolic content would improve the oxidative stability of the oils.