Optimization of Bleaching Process of Crude Palm Oil by Activated Plantain (&amp;lt;i&amp;gt;Musa paradisiaca&amp;lt;/i&amp;gt;) Peel Ash Using Response Surface Methodology

Wuraola Abake Raji,Fredericks Wirsiy Ngubi,Rowland Ugochukwu Azike

doi:10.4236/ojop.2019.81004

Abstract

The bleaching of crude palm oil using activated plantain peel ash (APPA) was studied in this work. Historical data design (HDD) in response surface methodology (RSM) experimental design was employed to optimize and correlate the process operating parameters (temperature, time and adsorbent dosage) to the percentage bleaching efficiency. The analysis of the results showed that the quadratic effects of the operating parameters were significant. The optimum condition for the maximum adsorption efficiency of 70.04% was obtained at 160°C temperature, 60 minutes reaction time, and 4 g adsorbent dosage. The predicted bleaching efficiency of 74% was in good agreement with the optimum experimental yield. This study has revealed that APPA is a good source of adsorbent for palm oil bleaching.

Highlights

Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil, produced by extracting its oil from the fresh fleshy fruits of oil palms which serves as an important ingredient for the food industry because of its superior characteristics and attributes [1]
This study has revealed that activated plantain peel ash (APPA) is a good source of adsorbent for palm oil bleaching
The use of low-cost adsorbent developed from activated plantain peel ash (APPA) in adsorptive bleaching of palm oil has been investigated in this work

Summary

Introduction

Palm oil is an edible vegetable oil, produced by extracting its oil from the fresh fleshy fruits of oil palms which serves as an important ingredient for the food industry because of its superior characteristics and attributes [1]. Bleaching of palm oils with activated unripe plantain peel ash (APPA) merits more investigations in order to combat environmental pollution and to reduce cost of production in the refining industry. This method is time consuming and requires a large number of experiments to determine optimum levels, which are unreliable [3] These limitations can be avoided by optimizing all the parameters collectively by statistical experimental design such as response surface methodology [9]. RSM was used to optimize the bleaching process variables such as temperature, contact time and adsorbent dosage in order to obtain optimum conditions for the bleaching of palm oil using Historical Data Design (HDD)

Materials and Method

Regression Model Equation

Model Diagnostic Plots

Model Graphs

Conclusion