Determination of Sunflower Seed Oil Content Using Natural Sunflower Oil: Calibration of a Pulsed NMR Analyzer

The present study substantiates the application of natural sunflower oil for the calibration of pulsed NMR analyzers, as well as for the identification and quality assessment of oilseeds and their products using the NMR method. Being the essential characteristic of sunflower seeds, the oil content is mandatory for the certification of agricultural products and their cost assessment. The first calibration option includes the measurement of oil NMR characteristics with the oil content determined using the Soxhlet exhaustive extraction. The second option involves the calibration of a NMR analyzer using sunflower oil, obtained by pressing identical cultivars and hybrids, as well as that acquired at a retail network. A comparison of the obtained calibration dependencies showed their similar nature. The application of sunflower oil for the calibration of NMR analyzers provides no increase in the oil content measurement error as compared to the first calibration option. Therefore, using natural oil for the calibration of NMR analyzers can considerably simplify the calibration process, reduce the calibration duration from 3–4 days to 3–4 h, as well as to exclude toxic solvents and additional high-value equipment from the process without essential variations in the oil content measurement error.