| Abstrakt: |
The price of palm oil in the market is rising because of its industrial and domestic applications. Different types of wastes are generated from palm oil processing, ranging from palm oil sludge, palm shell, and waste palm mesocarp fiber. Pressed palm mesocarp fiber contains 5–8% palm oil, which can be recovered using the appropriate method. In this study, an attempt has been made to recover palm oil from pressed oil palm mesocarp, with Soxhlet extraction method using different organic solvents (n-hexane, acetone, dichloromethane, and ethanol). The percentage oil extraction yield (%OEY) of the oil recovered was four time higher with ethanol, and acetone compared with dichloromethane and n-hexane. The %OEY of the oil recovered using n-hexane and dichloromethane was comparable and those recovered using ethanol and acetone were also comparable. Physicochemical analyses, such as viscosity, density, moisture content, flash point, fire point, cloud point, pour point, and acid value, showed that the oils recovered using different solvents were different from each other. Acetone and ethanol performed better because of their properties such as high solubility, high dipole moment, low octanol water partitioning coefficient, and their reactivity. Gas chromatography coupled with mass spectrometry (GC–MS) analyses similarly showed different fragmentation patterns and peaks, which confirmed the various fatty acid components of the recovered oil that were mainly palmitic acid (n-hexadecanoic acid, C16:0) and oleic acid (oleic acid, cis-vaccenic acid, trans-13-octadecenoic acid, cis-13-octadecenoic acid, and 9-octadecenoic acid, C18:1). The ratios of C16:0 to C18:1 were 1:9, 5.3:4.7, 3.5:6:5, and 3.8:6.2 for oil recovered with acetone, dichloromethane, n-hexane, and ethanol, respectively. Acetone and ethanol performed better in oil recovery from pressed mesocarp fiber compared with n-hexane and dichloromethane. The study therefore confirms that more oil could be recovered from pressed oil palm mesocarp for industrial purposes with the use of appropriate solvents. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
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