Effect of contact time
The contact time indirectly indicates the rate of reactions on
detachment of oil from solid seeds. However, since for this oil
extraction process, solubilization of the oil into micelles is not
desirable, the optimum contact time should be examined. In this
experiment, the contact times were varied from 15, 30, 45 and
60 min. The results show similar trend for both Systems A and
SystemB that the contact times up to 30 min had the maximum efficiency,
and then extraction efficiency after 30min tends to be more
or less decreased (Fig. 3). Thus, for the two systems, the contact
time at 30min was considered as the optimum time for extraction.
Thus, 30 min was enough time for reducing IFT of oil and solid surface
and thus let oil to detach in the aqueous surfactant solution.
However, for longer contact times free oil solubilized more into the
micelles resulting in less free oil.
3.2.3. Effect of palm kernel load
In this experiment, the kerne