TITLE:
Processes for the Clarification of the Crude Oil of Baobab Seeds Extracted by Pressing on Activated Carbon Elaborated from the Capsules of the Fruit (Adansonia digitata L.)
AUTHORS:
Edouard Mbarick Ndiaye, Alioune Sow, Kalidou Ba, Mouhamed Ndoye, Yousra El Idrissi, Seyni Ndiaye, Hamza El Moudden, Papa Guedel Faye, Hicham Harhar, Nicolas Ayessou, Mohamed Tabyaoui, Mady Cisse
KEYWORDS:
Activated Carbon, Baobab Oil, Clarification, Filtration, Process
JOURNAL NAME:
Advances in Chemical Engineering and Science,
Vol.13 No.2,
April
13,
2023
ABSTRACT: The baobab, Adansonia
digitata L. plays an important role in the economy of local populations. The oil from the seeds of the
baobab fruit is nowadays highly prized because of its numerous cosmetic
and therapeutic applications and its composition of unsaturated fatty acids,
sterols and tocopherols. However, unlike refined oils, locally extracted baobab
oil has not undergone purification operations to ensure its quality. Only a
filtration on special cloths is carried out after decantation. Indeed, the oil
obtained after pressing is cloudy because of the presence of various
impurities. It therefore requires treatment operations to make it more
attractive and of higher quality. Therefore, in order to provide innovative
solutions to local companies to improve the quality of vegetable oils, a study
of clarification (treatment) of crude oil is necessary. An experimental device
has been developed in the laboratory. It includes a glass column and a filter
bed of dune sand and activated carbon. This study has shown the efficiency of the experimental device. Indeed, the
activated carbon, thanks to its adsorbing power, has allowed a
significant decrease in turbidity at the 5% threshold, from 14.61 NTU for the
raw oil to 0.08 NTU for the oil filtered on
3% carbon and 0.033 NTU for the oil filtered on 5% carbon. That is to say an
abatement higher than 95%. This decrease in turbidity could be correlated with
the decrease in brown index from 187.39a for the initial crude oil
to 128.53d for the oil treated with 3% activated carbon versus
187.59a for the oil filtered on cloths. The lowest brown index was
observed with the filtration using 5% activated carbon (35.99b).
Thus, for the yellowness index, only the filtration on 5% charcoal allowed to
obtain a significant decrease in yellowness. The yellowing index of the oil
with 5% was 44.67b against 79.04a for the oil filtered
with 3% activated carbon, 86.33a for the crude oil and 86.46a for the oil filtered on cloths. Finally, the oil sample treated with 5%
activated carbon had the clearest clarity than the other samples with a clarity
(L) equal to 97.98c against 95.63d for the oil treated with
3% carbon and 94.99b for the oil filtered on filter cloths.
According to the results obtained, the experimental device made it possible to
obtain a clearer baobab oil with a low brown index, thus improving the sensory
quality of the oil.