Open AccessInvestigation of the Effect of Particle Size on Groundnut-Oil Solvent Extraction
Author(s) -
Samwel Victor Manyele,
I.F. Kahemel
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
tanzania journal of engineering and technology/tanzania journal of engeering and technology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
eISSN - 1821-536X
pISSN - 2619-8789
DOI - 10.52339/tjet.v31i2.425
Subject(s) - particle size , solvent , chromatography , extraction (chemistry) , hexane , sieve (category theory) , materials science , particle size distribution , chemistry , analytical chemistry (journal) , mathematics , organic chemistry , combinatorics
An investigation of the effect of particle size on the performance of vegetable oil recovery by solvent extraction is reported. Experiments were conducted using soxhlet extractor, groundnuts and n-hexane. Samples were grouped into mean particle sizes of 0.25, 0.75, 1.3, 3.3, and 7.5 mm using standard sieves. The effect of particle size was studied for extraction time intervals of 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 8 hours. The oil yield, oil recovered per kg solvent used, kg solvent lost per unit time, and the rate of extraction (kg oil recovered per hour) decreased with increasing particle size. Meanwhile, the percent of solvent recovered, the ratio of oilrecovered to the total volatile matter driven off and the kg solvent lost per kg oil recovered, increased with increasing particle size. Based on the normalization of averaged extraction-parameters, a mean particle size of 3.3 mm was observed to be the optimum size.