Characterization of Physicochemical Properties and Volatile Response Patterns of Supercritical CO2-Extracted Cricket Oil Processed by Molecular Distillation

Cricket (Acheta domesticus L.) oil obtained by supercritical CO2 (SCCO2) extraction was subjected to molecular distillation (MD) to evaluate changes in physicochemical properties, fatty acid composition, and electronic-nose volatile response patterns. Soxhlet-extracted cricket oil was included as a conventional reference for comparison of physicochemical properties and fatty acid profiles. Compared with Soxhlet-extracted oil, SCCO2-extracted cricket oil exhibited a lower acid value, whereas peroxide, iodine, and saponification values were higher. Fatty acid profiles of both oils were dominated by linoleic, palmitic, oleic, and stearic acids, although significant differences (p < 0.05) in fatty acid composition were observed. Molecular distillation resulted in distinct volatile response patterns between the light and heavy fractions under the tested operating conditions. Notably, operating condition III, consisting of an evaporator temperature of 190 °C, a feed rate of 2.17 mL/min, and a feed-line temperature of 100 °C, was associated with additional volatile responses tentatively assigned to compounds related to oxidation and thermal degradation. These findings indicate that molecular distillation was associated with differences in the volatile response patterns of cricket oil, with the observed responses varying according to fraction type and operating condition. Light fractions generally showed higher proportions of PUFAs and Σn-3 fatty acids and lower AI and TI values. Confirmatory chromatographic analysis is required to verify the tentative assignments of individual compounds.