Abstract
A technologically feasible cottonseed oil-isopropyl alcohol (IPA) miscella refining process was developed to produce high quality cottonseed oil. Individual steps necessary to refine cottonseed oil-IPA miscella were determined and improved. These were: 1) homogenization of the cottonseed oil-IPA miscella with caustic solution; 2) centrifugation; 3) separation of miscella layers; 4) desolventization, 5) water washing and drying; and 6) bleaching. In neutralization, the miscella was mixed with 20 Be' caustic solution (50% excess) by using a Sonolator for 15 times. The refined oils from both the bottom and top layers were water washed using 12.5% and 20% (w/w) hot water, respectively. The water washing efficiently recovered the oil from the top layer miscella and reduced the soap and phosphorus content. The water washed and dried oils from the bottom and top layers were treated with 0.5% and 4% (w/w) acid activated bleaching clay, respectively. Good quality refined and bleached oil was obtained. However, the quality of the bleached oil produced from bottom layer was better than that from the top layer. Comparative experiments with both IPA and hexane systems showed that the new refining process developed in this study could produce a higher quality refined oil from the cottonseed oil-IPA miscella than from the cottonseed oil-hexane miscella.
Chau, Chi-Fai (1994). Development of miscella refining process for cottonseed oil-isopropyl alcohol system: laboratory-scale evaluations. Master's thesis, Texas A&M University. Available electronically from
https : / /hdl .handle .net /1969 .1 /ETD -TAMU -1994 -THESIS -C496.