Use of Urea-imprinted cobalt ferrite nanoparticles in deacidification of deteriorated vegetable oil: Synthesis, characterization and preclinical toxicity screening

Abstract

Finding an affordable solution to the challenge posed by quality deterioration and loss of vitality of vegetable oil is of concern to the food industry. This study evaluated the synthesis of cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4) and urea modified cobalt ferrite (CoFe2O4@Urea) via the coprecipitation method and their application to the sorption of free fatty acids (FFAs) in deteriorated vegetable oil (DVO). CoFe2O4 and CoFe2O4@Urea were characterized by using scanning electron microscopy (SEM), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), X-ray diffraction (XRD), and energy-dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDS). The crystallite size was found to be 29 nm for CoFe2O4 and 31 nm for CoFe2O4@Urea. CoFe2O4 and CoFe2O4@Urea exhibited high performance for the removal of FFA from DVO restoring its loss quality. The negative values of ΔGo for both CoFe2O4 and CoFe2O4@Urea are indications that the sorption process is spontaneous with an increased percentage removal of FFA from 77.80 % in CoFe2O4 to 97.50 % in CoFe2O4@Urea in a process that may be described by Freundlich, Langmuir, and Temkin isotherm models. CoFe2O4@Urea (195.00 L kg−1) exhibited a better sorption capacity than CoFe2O4 (155.60 L kg−1); in furtherance of this exhibited performance, CoFe2O4@Urea (20 and 40 mg kg−1) was fed to rats for 7 days and assessed for sero-clinical and morphological alterations in the liver and kidney. Incidentally, treatment of rats with CoFe2O4@Urea did not affect clinical parameters including albumin, calcium, triglycerides and creatinine. Contrariwise, the biochemical markers of hepatorenal function, aspartate aminotransferase and bilirubin were significantly depleted following treatment with 20 mg kg−1 CoFe2O4@Urea while micromorphological studies indicated the presence of congestion and infiltration of the hepatic portal tract. These studies established the outstanding performance of CoFe2O4@Urea for restoring the quality of DVO which paves the way for the future prospects of CoFe2O4@Urea in the treatment of DVO in the food industry.