The use of vegetable oils to recover compounds from aqueous solutions

Corn oil, canola oil, olive oil, sunflower oil, peanut oil and soyabean oil were tested as extractants for the recovery of organic compounds from aqueous solution. Short chain aliphatic alcohols and acids were poorly recovered (K_d < 1.0) while most esters, aldehydes and aromatic compounds tested were satisfactorily recovered (K_d > 2.0) from aqueous solution by vegetable oils. K_d is defined as the ratio of the concentration of the dissolved substance in the extractant to that in the aqueous phase. The exception was caffeine which was poorly extracted from water. The type of oil used appeared to have limited effect on K_d. Increasing the reaction temperature resulted in increased K_d for most readily extractable compounds. Acidulated fatty acid was also tested as an extractant. Although it generally resulted in a greater K_d than the oils or hexane control, acidulated fatty acid was less desirable as an extractant because it tended to create an emulsion with the aqueous phase under the test conditions.