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Conventional castor oil extraction process involves many steps to produce oil and meal. Each step where heat can be applied and controlled, alone or in combinations, has been evaluated for its effects on toxin and allergenic castor bean antigen, CB-lA in a pilot scale-factorial design of experiments. Preconditioning did not destroy ricin and CB-lA, although the activity of ricin has been decreased slightly. Prepressing destroyed ricin toxicity completely, -however, CB-lA activity was still strong even after the prepressing. A significant reduction in CB-lA activity was observed after prepressing followed by solvent extraction, but there was still enough activity. Solvent extraction with hexane had only limited effects on CB-lA and ricin activity.
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