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Abstract

The high annual rate of production of rice bran in our country usually results in accumulation of a large quantity of bran. This fact promoted us to evaluate different sample of rice bran for oil constituents. This research work was the extraction of oil from different varieties of bran collected from the North and the Southern parts of Iran. The total oil content, the quantity and their suitability for use as edible oil and/or in soap manufacturing were compared. Based on their resolution power and solvents availability, n-hexane was eventually selected as the suitable decolorization using activated carbon and! or acid activated clay toward final purification. Based on our results and findings, the oil samples obtained were edible but the total oil content of the Northern samples were higher than the those collected from the South of Iran. The oil content of these samples was ranged from 1.2 to 5.3 percent. Therefore, rice bran can be considered as an alternative source of edible oil which may be used in preparation of foodstuffs and dietary supplements