Assessment of the effects of collets moisture and addition of ethyl esters on the ethanolic extraction of soybean oil

Abstract

This study evaluated ethyl esters as cosolvent of ethanol in the oil extraction from soybean collets containing two different levels of moisture (3 and 7 mass% of water). Extraction assays were performed in a fixed-bed column, at 60 and 70 °C, with a solid:solvent mass ratio of 1:1.5. The composition of the ethyl esters-ethanol mixture was chosen based on densities and dynamic viscosities, and Hansen solubility parameters. Using collets with 3 mass% of water and the rising temperature favored the soybean oil extraction yield. Adding 5 mass% of ethyl esters to ethanol enabled the achievement of a gain of 33% in the oil extraction yield considering collets with 7 mass% of water at 60 °C. The use of ethyl esters-ethanol mixture to extract soybean oil is promising, particularly when it is not possible or desirable to subject soybean collets to an additional drying process.