Hexane elimination from soybean oil by continuous packed tower processing with supercritical CO2

Hexane elimination is the most energy-consuming step in the industrial extraction of soybean oil. It utilizes three sets of equipment: two evaporation stages in series followed by a stripper at a pressure of about 0.07 bar. The final hexane residue in the oil is about 1000 ppm. We propose an alternative to the present process for hexane elimination, based on the extraction of the soybean oil/hexane mixture with supercritical CO₂ in a continuous countercurrent packed tower. In this work, we tested a soybean oil/hexane mixture feed containing 10% by weight of hexane. Various pressures and temperatures of the column were tested to reduce hexane residue in the oil. The extraction process was demonstrated to be very effective for hexane separation. Indeed, at the bottom of the column we recovered soybean oil containing quantities of hexane as low as 20 ppm when we operated at 120 bar, 40°C. The effect of process parameters is also discussed.     

Ambient-temperature extraction of rice bran oil with hexane and isopropanol

Hexane and isopropanol were compared as solvents for use in ambient-temperature equilibrium extraction of rice bran oil (RBO). Isopropanol was as effective as hexane in extracting RBO when 20 mL of solvent was used to extract 2 g of bran. Free fatty acid levels were 2–3% in both solvents and similar to that previously reported for hexane extraction of RBO hexane extraction by this method. Larger-scale extractions with 30 g of bran and 150 mL of solvent produced oil with a similar free fatty acid content and a phosphorus level of approximately 500 ppm. The oil extracted with isopropanol was significantly more stable to heat-induced oxidation than hexane-extracted oil. Antioxidants that are more easily extracted by isopropanol than hexane may be responsible for the increased stability.     

Alternative hydrocarbon solvents for cottonseed extraction: Plant trials

Hexane has been used for decades to extract oil from cottonseed and is still the solvent of choice for the edible-oil industry. Due to increased regulations as a result of the 1990 Clean Air Act and potential health risks, the edible-oil extraction industry urgently needs an alternate hydrocarbon solvent to replace hexane. Based on laboratory-scale extraction tests, two hydrocarbon solvents, heptane and isohexane, were recommended as potential replacements for hexane. A cottonseed processing mill with a 270 MT/day (300 tons/day) capacity agreed to test both solvents with their expander-solvent process. Extraction efficiencies of isohexane and heptane, judged by extraction time and residual oil in meal, refined and bleached color of miscella refined oil, and solvent loss, were comparable to that of hexane. However, fewer problems were encountered with the lower-boiling isohexane than with the higher-boiling heptane. With isohexane, the daily throughput increased more than 20%, and natural gas consumption decreased more than 40% as compared to hexane.     

Alternative Bio-Based Solvents for Extraction of Fat and Oils: Solubility Prediction,Global Yield,Extraction Kinetics,Chemical Composition and Cost of Manufacturing

The present study was designed to evaluate the performance of alternative bio-based solvents, more especially 2-methyltetrahydrofuran, obtained from crop’s byproducts for the substitution of petroleum solvents such as hexane in the extraction of fat and oils for food (edible oil) and non-food (bio fuel) applications. First a solvent selection as well as an evaluation of the performance was made with Hansen Solubility Parameters and the COnductor-like Screening MOdel for Realistic Solvation (COSMO-RS) simulations. Experiments were performed on rapeseed oil extraction at laboratory and pilot plant scale for the determination of lipid yields, extraction kinetics, diffusion modeling, and complete lipid composition in term of fatty acids and micronutrients (sterols, tocopherols and tocotrienols). Finally, economic and energetic evaluations of the process were conducted to estimate the cost of manufacturing using 2-methyltetrahydrofuran (MeTHF) as alternative solvent compared to hexane as petroleum solvent.     

Influence of operating variables on yield and quality parameters of olive husk oil extracted with supercritical carbon dioxide

Supercritical fluid extraction is a viable alternative process for extracting oil from olive husk, a residue obtained in the olive oil production. We analyzed the effects of pressure (P) (100–300 bar), temperature (T) (40–60°C), solvent flow (1–1.5 L/min), and particle size (D) (0.30–0.55 mm) on extraction yield, and three oil-quality parameters: acidity (OA), PV, and phosphorus content (PC). A response surface methodology based on the statistical analysis of the experimental data permitted us to obtain mathematical expressions relating the operational variables and parameters studied. At the best extraction condition of the experimental range analyzed (P=300 bar, T=60°C, D=0.30 mm, and solvent flow=1.25 L/min at standard conditions), the oil yield was 80% (w/w) with respect to hexane extraction, whereas the quality parameters OA, PV, and PC were 14% (w/w), 8 meq/kg, and 2.3·10⁻³% (w/w), respectively. These results were compared to those obtained by hexane Soxhlet extraction. The quality of the supercritical extract was superior, requiring only simple refining. This advantage may result in improved economics of the supercritical process in relation to the conventional extraction with hexane.     

Effect of extraction solvents on oxidative stability of crude soybean oil

Oxidative stabilities of crude soybean oils obtained by different extraction solvents such as hexane, water and Folch's solvent (mixture of two volumes of chloroform and one volume of methanol) were determined by gas chromatographic analyses of headspace and peroxide value of oil samples. For the determination of oxidative stability of oil samples, total volatile compounds formation, molecular oxygen disappearance in the headspace and peroxide value of oil samples were measured. Iodine value (133–136), saponification value (195–198), unsaponifiable matters (0.3–0.4%), iron (0.6 ppm), sterols content (2,400–2,590 ppm), tocopherols content (1,250–1,520 ppm) and fatty acid composition of crude oils obtained by different solvent extraction were not significantly different. Acid value of Folch-extracted oil was the highest as 1.3, whereas those of hexane-and aqueous-extracted oils were 0.5 and 0.4, respectively. Crude soybean oil extracted by Folch's method was found to contain the most phosphorus, while hexane- and aqueous-extracted oils contained similar amounts of phosphorous. Crude soybean oil obtained by Folch extraction was most stable in oil oxidation, and oxidative stabilities of oils obtained by hexane and aqueous extraction, which were significantly much less stable than Folch-extracted oil, were not significantly different during ten weeks storage.     

Hexane and heptane as extraction solvents for cottonseed: A laboratory-scale study

For many years, commercial-grade hexane has been the preferred solvent for extracting oil from cottonseed. Recent environmental and health concerns about hexane may limit the use of this solvent; therefore, the need for a replacement solvent has become an important issue. Heptane is similar to hexane, but does not have the environmental and health concerns associated with the latter. On a laboratory scale, delinted, dehulled, ground cottonseed was extracted with hexane and heptane. The solvent-to-meal ratio was 10:1 (vol/wt). The yield and quality of the oil and meal extracted by heptane were similar to that extracted by hexane. Extraction temperature was higher for heptane than for hexane. A higher temperature and a longer time were required to desolventize miscella from the heptane extraction than from the hexane extraction. Based on these studies, heptane offers a potential alternative to hexane for extracting oil from cottonseed.     

Supercritical carbon dioxide and solvent extraction of 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline from Pandan leaf: The effect of pre-treatment

Pandan (Pandanus amaryllifolius Roxb.) leaf is a source of natural flavoring widely used in South-east Asia. The major compound contributing to the characteristic flavor of Pandan is 2-acetyl-1-pyrroline (2AP). This highly volatile compound also contributes significantly to the flavor of aromatic rice such as basmati and jasmine rice. As the consumer requirement for use of natural flavors, extraction of components from natural sources has been sought. In this study, supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) and solvent extraction of components from Pandan leaves were performed. Experimental parameters included particle size and drying method (oven and freeze drying). Results indicated that the initial value of moisture content and particle size of Pandan leaves had the greatest effect on the total yield and 2AP concentration of the extracts. Almost 80% of water in Pandan leaves can be removed by drying. Yields of supercritical extracts were 10 times lower when compared to the hexane extracts. The total yield of extracts was increased up to 50% with decreasing particle size of Pandan leaves. Extraction of coarsely ground freeze-dried Pandan leaves by SC-CO₂ obtained the highest yield (0.88 ± 0.06%) followed by oven dried (0.38 ± 0.09%) and fresh leaves (0.34 ± 0.01%). The 2AP was identified by GC-MS and analyzed by GC-FID. Supercritical and hexane extracts of pre-treated Pandan leaves were found to have a small quantity of 2AP ranging between 0.04 ± 0.01 and 0.45 ± 0.01 ppm. Grinding pre-treatment was the best method for both SC-CO₂ and hexane extractions while the freeze drying method was the best for SC-CO₂.     

唑草酯及其三种主要酸性代谢物在谷物、饲料中残留分析方法研究

研究了唑草酯及其主要酸性代谢物在谷物和饲料中残留分析方法。样品以丙酮提取,唑草酯过Si-SPE小柱,用气相色谱的ECD检测;唑草酯的三种主要酸性代谢物过串联SPE柱(SCX小柱在C18小柱上面),气相色谱和质谱联用检测。唑草酯的最小检测量为0.01ng,三种主要酸性代谢物的最小检测量为0.005ng。用优化后的方法在谷物、饲料中分别进行添加回收实验,得到的唑草酯平均添加回收率:添加0.1mg/L时为79.4%,添加1.0mg/L时为81.3%。三种主要酸性代谢物的准确性、灵敏度均达到农药残留分析的要求。     

Solvent extraction of oil from soybean flour II— pilot plant and two-solvent extractions

The process of grinding soybeans to a fine flour and extracting the flour with hexane was studied on a pilot plant scale. The crude oil from the pilot plant study had 15 ppm phosphorus and was suitable for physical refining after a light acid pretreatment and bleaching. The refined oil showed a Lovibond color of 1.4 yellow and 0.3 red. The pilot plant study also showed that grinding of the soybeans and the separation of solid from miscella were the most difficult steps in solvent extraction with fine flour. A laboratory study on separation of miscella from meal by aqueous ethanol reduced the hold-up volume, but it did not remove all the miscella. A test with betacarotene showed that only the miscella outside the flour particles was displaced. Aqueous ethanol solutions used as a second solvent extracted additional nontriglyceride materials (primarily phospholipids) from the meal. Also, the free fatty acid content of the oil was increased with aqueous ethanol solution wash. The quality of the extracted crude oil was lowered by using a second solvent, but it had the advantage of needing only one centrifugation to separate miscella from meal.     

Determination of residual solvent in oilseed meals and flours: I. Dimethyl formamide extraction procedure

A procedure is described for determination of residual acetone and hexane in cottonseed and soybean meals and flours by extraction of the residual solvent with dimethyl formamide (DMF)-water (95∶5) followed by gas liquid chromatography analysis of the DMF extracts. A representative group of samples was analyzed both by this procedure and one employing iso-octane as extractant. In all cases where residual solvent was found, the amount was markedly greater when aqueous DMF was the extracting solvent.     

1,1,2-trichloro-1,2,2-trifluoroethane for oilseed extractions: Demonstration of a viscosity effect

Extractions of full fat soy flake and meal were carried out at 5 to 70 C with hexane and 1,1,2-trichloro-l,2,2-trifluoroethane (FC-113) and their corresponding miscellas in order to evaluate FC-113 as a process solvent. In flake extraction, the rate of oil extraction by FC-113 was markedly improved with increasing temperature while extraction by hexane was relatively independent of temperature. In contrast, extraction of flake by the miscellas from both solvents and extraction of meal by fresh solvents gave similar results. A comparison of solvent properties indicates that the differences can be related to the viscosity dependent diffusion into the microporous flakes and suggests similar efficiencies for FC-113 and hexane in countercurrent flow extractors operating at elevated temperatures. Contribution No. 561 of the Research and Development Division, Jackson Laboratory, Organic Chemicals Department, E.I. du Pont de Nemours & Company, Wilmington, DE 19898     

Laboratory and pilot solvent extraction of extruded high-oil corn

Oil extraction of flakes and extrudates of high-oil (HO) corn was studied, using hexane as solvent. HO corn contained 19.5% oil, 70% of which was located in the germ. Microstructures of starchy endosperm and germ were analyzed by scanning electron and light microscopy. Conventionally extruded samples extracted faster and to a lower residual oil content than flakes and steam-injected extrudates. Ultrastructural disruption and cooking of conventionally extruded material was adequate to free the oil from the spherosomes and produce a porous pellet with a high proportion of “surface oil.” Encapsulation of the oil within a gelatinized starch matrix made it partly unavailable in steam-injected extrudate samples. Data presented for laboratory and pilot plant runs demonstrate that conventional extrusion is a promising pretreatment for solvent extraction of high-oil, starchy materials.     

Influence of operation variables on quality parameters of olive husk oil extracted with CO<Subscript>2</Subscript>: Three-step sequential extraction

Supercritical CO₂ extraction is a viable alternative process for the extraction of high-quality oil from olive husk (also known as olive pomace), a residue obtained in the production of olive oil. We analyzed the effect of pressure (100–300 bar), temperature (40–60°C), solvent flow (1–1.5 L/min), and particle size (0.30–0.55 mm) on four important quality parameters of the oil extracted with CO₂: tocopherol concentration, extinction coefficients at 232 and 270 nm, and saponification value. Response surface methodology was used to obtain mathematical expressions related to the operating variables and parameters studied. Results from these experiments were also used to design a three-step sequential CO₂ extraction procedure to obtain a higher-quality extract. The optimal operational sequence consisted of a first extraction step at 75 bar for 1 h using 1% (vol/vol) ethanol modifier, followed by a second extraction stage at 350 bar for 2.5 h without ethanol and a third step, also at 350 bar, for 2.5 h but using ethanol. These extraction conditions obtained an intermediate fraction of oil with 64% yield and all normal parameters according to European Commission food legislation. This fraction is suitable without any further refining. On the contrary, the oils obtained by hexane extraction and by conventional supercritical CO₂ extraction at optimal conditions are suitable for human consumption after further refining. This last finding may result in improved economics of the sequential CO₂ extraction process compared to the conventional extraction method with hexane.     

Lipid extraction from natural plant source of Adenanthera pavonina using mixed solvent by superheated extractor

The lipid content was extracted from the saga seed by superheated condition and soxhlet apparatus. The mixture of hexane, chloroform and methanol was utilized as a mixed solvent for these extraction operations. Different parameters such as different solvent, temperature, mean particle size and solvent flow have been examined. The optimized lipid extraction was achieved as 26.2 wt% by using superheated condition from the saga seed powder at 90 °C for 120min. Then the fatty acids profile of the optimized Adenanthera pavonina oil were analyzed by gas chromatography. Unsaturated fatty acid was high as 83.7% compared with saturated fatty acid barely 15.4% by relative.     

Acquisition of Water Solubility Diagrams in Ternary Systems (AOT/Organic Solvent/Alcohol) and Extraction of α-Lactalbumin Using Reverse Micellar Systems

In this study water solubility curves were constructed and calorimetric measurements obtained for reverse micellar systems consisting of an alcohol (isopropanol or butanol), surfactant (AOT) and organic solvent (isooctane or hexane). Also evaluated were the effects of alcohol and solvent type and surfactant concentration on the extraction of the α-lactalbumin (α–la). From the obtained solubility diagrams for ternary systems, it was concluded that isooctane presented the highest water solubility capacity in the center of the micelle systems with hexane, since isooctane has greater molecular volume and greater effect of the surfactant aggregation number. With respect to the alcohols, it was observed that isopropanol and butanol act in the system as a co-surfactant, since they prefer to adsorb at the water/solvent interface. It was also verified that butanol improved water solubility inside the reverse micellar due to its contribution to increase the critical packing parameter. The amount of α-la extracted increased proportionally with the AOT concentration for systems with isooctane and hexane. However, for systems with the latter solvent, the concentration of extracted protein first increases and then decreases. The extraction power of reverse micellar systems with isooctane was influenced by the type of alcohol with butanol showing better results. For systems containing hexane there was no effect of the alcohol added to the system on extraction power of α-lactalbumin.     

First approach on rice bran oil extraction using limonene

Edible oil extraction with petroleum derivatives as solvents has caused safety, health, and environmental concerns everywhere. Thus, finding a safe alternative solvent will have a strong and positive impact on environments and general health of the world population, considering the scale of oil extraction operations worldwide. The extraction of oil from rice bran by d‐limonene and hexane (for comparison) has been carried out at their respective boiling points at various solvent‐to‐meal ratios and for various extraction times. The preliminary data suggested that the optimum solvent‐to‐meal ratio and extraction time required for d‐limonene extraction of rice bran oil to be 5:1 and 1 h respectively. The initial quality characteristics (free fatty acid content, oil color, phospholipid content) of crude oil extracted under these optimum conditions were analyzed using various analytical methods based on the standard methods of AOCS and were found to be comparable to the oil extracted with hexane. The initial positive result has paved the way for further studies on issues related to meal qualities as well as to a scale‐up of the method in the near future.     

Supercritical carbon dioxide extraction of cottonseed with co-solvents

Extraction of cottonseed lipids with supercritical carbon dioxide (SC-CO₂) was conducted with and without a cosolvent, ethanol or 2-propanol (IPA). At 7000 psi and 80°C, the reduced pressure, temperature and density of SC-CO₂ was at 6.5, 1.17 and 1.85, respectively; the specific gravity was 0.87. Under these conditions, CO₂ is denser than most liquid extraction agents such as hexane, ethanol and IPA. The extraction of cottonseed with SC-CO₂ gave a yield of more than 30% (moisture-free basis). This is comparable to yields obtained by the more commonly used solvent, hexane. The crude cottonseed oil extracted by SC-CO₂ was visually lighter than refined cottonseed oil. This was substantiated by colorimetric measurements. No gossypol was detected in the crude oil. However, crude oil extracted by SC-CO₂, to which less than 5% of ethanol or IPA as co-solvent was added, containedca. 200 ppm of gossypol, resulting in the typical dark color of cottonseed crude oil with gossypol. CO₂ extracted a small amount of cottonseed phosphatides, about one-third of that extracted by pure ethanol, IPA or hexane. A second extraction with 100% ethanol or IPA after the initial SC-CO₂ extraction produced a water-soluble lipid fraction that contained a significant amount of gossypol, ranging between 1500 and 5000 ppm. Because pure gossypol is practically insoluble in water, this fraction is believed to be made up of gossypol complexed with polysaccharides and phosphatides. Partially presented at the AOCS 1993 Annual Meeting & Expo in Anaheim, California.     

Biorenewable solvents for vegetable oil extraction

A review of the literature pertaining to possible alternatives for hexane as solvent in the extraction of vegetable oils was made. The review was restricted to solvents obtainable from renewable resources and included the most recent technological advances in oil extraction processes. The most promising systems surveyed were based on the use of water, alcohols, ketones, halocarbons, or of liquified and supercritical gases as solvents for oils. Presented at the 31st Oilseed Processing Clinic March 1982, New Orleans, LA.     

Limited extraction of soybeans with hexane

Soybean flakes were extracted with lower than optimal quantities of hexane in the laboratory and comparisons were made of oil yield, phospholipids yield and phospholipids composition as a function of the volume of hexane. Although the oil yield and the total amount of phosphorus were significantly decreased with limited volumes of hexane, the distribution of phospholipid components remained essentially the same. Because the oil obtained by this limited solvent extraction contained less phosphatides, it is expected to be more easily processed by conventional techniques.