Solid–liquid extraction of rice bran oil using binary mixture of ethyl acetate and dichloromethane

Abstract

The aim of the study is to investigate the potentials of less hazardous, binary mixtures of ethyl acetate (EA) and dichloromethane (DCM) for rice bran oil recovery. Nine solvent mixtures are used with different volumetric ratios of EA/DCM ranging from 0.11 to 9. Solvent mixture with volumetric ratio of 4 (S8) has enabled the maximum oil recovery 88.04 %. The oil extraction yield is enhanced from 76.41 to 89.7 % by increasing the preheating temperature from 40 to 65 °C. The other optimized parameters for enhanced oil recovery are: bran particle size <125 µm (obtained with 120 mesh sieve), solvent to bran ratio of 5 mL/g, and stirring time of 15 min. The minimum stirring rate for preventing agglomeration in the mixture and optimized oil recovery is 80 rpm.