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Emerging Trends in Chemical Engineering

Investigation on the Characteristics of Oil from Different Species of Cocos Nucifera

  1. Ukpaka. C. P.
  2. Goodhead, T. O.,
  3. Okene, A. M.

Abstract

The study evaluates the characteristies of the extracted oil from different species of coconut (Cocos Nucifera) obtained within the Niger Delta region, Nigeria. The coconut species consists of West Coast Tall (Species A), East Coast Tall (Species B), Maypan (Species C), Tiptur (Species D), Orange dwarf (Species E), Green Dwarf (Species F), Malayan yellow (Species G), Fiji Dwarf (Species H), Macapuna (Species I) and Kings (Species J). The results from the analysis revealed that species B recorded the highest Average Weight of Sample (AVWS), Average Weight of Husking (AVWH) and Average Weight of De-husking (AVWDH) were 1561.0g, 846.0g and 714.9g while Species D recorded the lowest of 658.4g, 311.5g and 346.9g respectively. Species J recorded the highest percentage oil yield (10.3%), followed by Species E (9.1%) while Species I recorded the least (6.4%). The result revealed that the colour of the species were slightly yellow except for specie A, E, I & J that are dark slightly yellow, the free fatty acid analysis revealed that species F recorded the highest value (0.39) followed by species I (0.37) while Species J value was the lowest value (0.1). and species B (9.4252mgKOH/gs) while the lowest value was in species H (252mgKOH/gs). The peroxide values for species I, F, E, and C were recorded as 0.65meq/kg, 0.55 meq/kg, 0.47meq/kg and 0.47meq/kg respectively while species J recorded the lowest (0.37 meq/kg). The saponification value reveals that sample F recorded the highest value (260mgKOH/gs oil) while species A and J recorded 252mgKOH/gs oil. The analysis revealed that all the physicochemical properties of oil from different species of coconut were within the APCC permissible limit.. Material balance calculations where carried based on the principles of conservation of mass, a total of 15610g/hr produced 281.53g/hr of coconut oil. However, the economic evaluation of a small scale (1tonne/day) coconut oil production plant revealed the cost of production to be US $ 63,726.

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