Development of Soxhlet extractor for extraction of oil from seeds

Oil extraction from the seeds material is challenging work in terms of maximum yield recovery and maintaining its purification. Mechanical Press are generally employed for the oil extraction purpose. However, by thermochemical applications the recovery of oil is of great interest now a days owing to

Project Title

Development of Soxhlet extractor for extraction of oil from seeds

Project Area of Specialization

Mechanical Engineering

Project Summary

Oil extraction from the seeds material is challenging work in terms of maximum yield recovery and maintaining its purification. Mechanical Press are generally employed for the oil extraction purpose. However, by thermochemical applications the recovery of oil is of great interest now a days owing to its sophisticated working mechanism, minimized operational losses and cost. This work is focused to design and fabricate the economical and efficient soxhlet unit for oil extraction applications at labscale from different seeds materials. The unit will be fabricated from glass and steel material consisting of mounting panel, glass reactor, heater, temperature controller, condensing and product recovery unit. Cotton, sunflower and olive seeds will be used as feedstock material for oil recovery. The unit will be operated at different temperature (60 °C, 70 °C and 80 °C) and feed size schemes (100, 200 and 300 micron). The data will be evaluated for process optimization by using CCD design method. The unit will be operated at optimized condition for results confirmation and sample will be further processed for product purification. The work will provide a significant insight for potential of developed unit for maximum product recovery at various operating conditions. Which will support the researchers/manufacturers/industrialists in the field of oil extraction to have some valuable information related to optimized processing approach and improve product quality.

Project Objectives

The project objectives are as following 

-To fabricate the labscale apparatus for extraction application

-To optimize the performance evaluation of the reactor for maximum product recovery

Project Implementation Method

This work is focused to design and fabricate the economical and efficient soxhlet unit for oil extraction applications at labscale from different seeds materials. The unit will be fabricated from glass and steel material consisting of mounting panel, glass reactor, heater, temperature controller, condensing and product recovery unit. Cotton, sunflower and olive seeds will be used as feedstock material for oil recovery. The unit will be operated at different temperature (60 °C, 70 °C and 80 °C) and feed size schemes (100, 200 and 300 micron). The data will be evaluated for process optimization by using CCD design method. Feedstock will be crushed to obtain desired particle size and will be placed in reactor for extraction by contacting with solvent. After extraction the product will be cooled to room temperature and solvent will be recovered. The quantity of oil will be detemrined by gravity method and yield will be calculated. Based on various operations and yield results, the process optimiation will be performed to obtain best operating condition. 

Benefits of the Project

The work will provide a significant insight for potential of developed unit for maximum product recovery at various operating conditions. Which will support the researchers/manufacturers/industrialists in the field of oil extraction to have some valuable information related to optimized processing approach and improve product quality.

Technical Details of Final Deliverable

Reactor: Glass made unit with holding capacity of 0.5 kg seeds 

Heater: heating coils of high quality to be installed in panel for heating the solvent 

condensing unit: condensor tube made of glass with two ports for water circulation 

Thermocouples: for Temperature reading, K Type 

Controller: Temepraturure controller 

Digital Meter: for data display 

siphoning tube: Glass made tube for siphon action 

Solvent: Hexane commercial grade 99% purity 

mounting panel: made of steel 

Beakers: Glass Made 100 ml, 500 ml and 1000 ml

Filter Paper: Nylon and paper filter 

Final Deliverable of the Project

Hardware System

Core Industry

Energy

Other Industries

Core Technology

Clean Tech

Other Technologies

Sustainable Development Goals

Affordable and Clean Energy

Required Resources

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