OPTIMIZATION OF SESAME SEEDS OIL EXTRACTION OPERATING CONDITIONS USING THE RESPONSE SURFACE DESIGN METHODOLOGY
HAITHAM OSMAN 1*, IHAB SHIGIDI 1, 2, ABUBAKR ELKHALEEFA 1 1. King Khalid University, Department of Chemical Engineering, P.O. Box 9146, Abha 61413, Saudi Arabia
2. Al-Neelain University, Department of Chemical Engineering, P.O. Box 10179, Khartoum, Sudan
*Corresponding author: Haitham.osman@gmail.com
This paper applies Response Surface Design (RSD) to model the experimental data obtained from the extraction of sesame seeds oil using n-hexane, chloroform and acetone as solvents under different operating conditions. The results obtained revealed that n-hexane outperformed the extraction obtained using chloroform and acetone. The developed model predicted that n-hexane with a rotational speed of 547 rpm and a contact time between the solvent and seeds of 19.46 hours with solvent: seeds ratio of 4.93, yields the optimum oil extracted of 37.03 %, outperforming chloroform and acetone models that gave prediction for 4.75 and 4.21 respectively. While the maximum predictions yield for chloroform is 6.73 %, under the operating conditions of 602 rpm, and 24 hours contact time, with a ratio of solvent: seeds of 1.74. On the other hand the acetone maximum prediction is only 4.37 %, with operational conditions of 467 rpm, and 6.00 hours contact time, with a ratio of solvent: seeds of 1. It is has been found that the maximum oil extraction yield obtained from the chloroform (6.73 %) and Acetone (4.37 %) is much lower than that predicted by n-hexane 37.03 %.
