Effects of extraction time and stirring speed on the production of cooking oil by batchwise solvent extraction

Vegetable oils, such as palm oil, are widely used nowadays. In general, the nutrients in palm oil can be decreased during the refining process. Consequently, a less nutrient-intensive method of refining palm oil is the Batchwise Solvent Extraction (BSE) method. The objective of this study was to examine the best operating conditions (extraction time and stirring speed) for a 5-L batchwise solvent extraction method that produces high-purity cooking oil. The measurements included the purity of triacylglycerols (TG) and free fatty acids (FFA) in the nonpolar lipid fraction (NPLF). One-factor-at-a-time (OFAT) and Central Composite Design (CCD) were employed in this study. Subsequently, the stirrer speed was varied between 590 and 1016 rpm in accordance with the variables. After that, 1.66 L of Crude Palm Oil (CPO) was gradually added, and the mixture was stirred for a predetermined amount of time - between one and twenty min. Subsequently, it can settle and be divided into NPLF. There are eight steps in this process. Subsequently, distillation was used to separate the NPLF from ethanol. Finally, gas chromatography (GC) was used to analyze TG and FFA. The results showed that the optimal operating conditions were a rotation speed of 1016 rpm and a contact time of 10.5 min, which resulted in a maximum allowable FFA content of 1.12%.