Separation of Carotenes and Vitamin E from Palm Oil Mill Effluent Using Silica from Agricultural Waste as an Adsorbent

Abstract

Palm oil mill effluent (POME) was characterized. The effluent had low nitrogen with high Biochemical Oxygen Demand (BOD) and Chemical Oxygen Demand (COD). 6,500 mg/L of oil (78 % of oil recovery) was recovered from 1 L of POME using n -hexane. 70 and 71 % of BOD and COD in POME were significantly reduced after oil recovery. The carotenes and vitamin E concentration from recovered oil were 580 and 160 ppm, respectively. α-carotene and β-carotene were presented as a major component in oil. Afterward, carotenes and vitamin E in oil were concentrated by adsorption chromatography using either rice hull silica or rice straw silica as adsorbents. After oil recovery, 4.60 g/L oil was obtained with high concentrations of carotenes (5,590 ppm) and vitamin E (630 ppm). Rice hull silica (RSH) had a higher capability to recover carotenes and vitamin E than rice straw silica (RSS) did. The recovery of carotenes and vitamin E using RSH were 70.77 and 11.88 % recovery, respectively. The carotene and vitamin E recovery method using RHS developed in this work has potential applications in the palm oil industry.