Methods for the reduction of cholesterol in Silkworm Chrysalis Oil

Objective: This study aimed at establishing a physical adsorption method for removing cholesterol from silkworm oil, to provide a reference for the further exploitation of silkworm oil.Methods: The cholesterol content in the silkworm chrysalis oil after saponification was determined by colorimetric method; gum arabic, neutral alumina, Si-Mg adsorbent, β- Cyclodextrin, activate alumina and basic alumina were chosen as adsorbents. Results: The results showed that, neutral alumina was the best for the removal of cholesterol from silkworm oil, 54.76% of the cholesterol in silkworm oil was removed when it was treated with 18% added neutral alumina at 65℃ for 2.5h.Conclusions: The cholesterol in silkworm oil could be better reduced by the neutral alumina. Furthermore, neutral alumina had little impact on the quality of silkworm oil.