SIMULTANEOUS DETERMINATION OF OIL AND WATER CONTENTS IN DIFFERENT OILSEEDS BY PULSED NUCLEAR-MAGNETIC-RESONANCE

Routine analysis of oil and water contents in different oilseeds with the Bruker Minispec pulsed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) analyzer (Bruker Analytische Mestechnik, Rheinstetten, Germany) is rapid (16 s measurements), precise, accurate and nondestructive. In 1991, subcommittee SC2 (oil seeds) of the Technical Committee Number 34 [organized by the International Standards Organization (ISO), Geneva, Switzerland] organized an international collaborative study for pulsed NMR analysis of oil content in whole rapeseed. An additional study was performed in 1993 to extend the method to sunflower, linseed and soy seeds. The Draft International Standard ISO DIS/10565 (Draft International Standards, International Standards Organization, Geneva, 1993) describes the procedure of the pulsed NMR method for determination of oil content in rapeseed and presents the interlaboratory comparison results based on the calculations described in the normative ISO 5725 (Draft International Standards, International Standards Organization, Geneva, 1993). The standard was approved in 1992 and will be published in 1993. The interlaboratory collaborative studies showed that the analyses of oil and moisture by pulsed NMR were either comparable or more repeatable than measurements done by the traditional methods. No statistical differences between determinations by the traditional and pulsed NMR methods were found. Simultaneous determination of percent moisture and percent oil content in whole seeds is possible with pulsed NMR by the spin-echo method. In addition, multiple components of the oil can be detected and quantitated by T2 analysis from the Carr-Purcell-Meiboom-Gill pulse sequence. The instrument is easy to calibrate with whole oilseeds, and the calibration can be checked periodically with the same seeds because the measurement is nondestructive. Pulsed NMR provides a rapid alternative to the long, laborious, traditional methods of analysis and offers substantial long-term savings of both time and money. Minimal operator training if required once the technique has been established for routine use.