Efficiency of the use of solvents in vegetable oil extraction at oleaginous crops

The soxhlet oil extraction method provides a large amount of oil when compared to other methods, however the commonly used solvents are not always effective. The objective of this work was to compare the efficiency of two solvents in different moisture contents in the extraction of peanut oil (Arachis hypogaea L.), sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.), soybean (Glycine max), crambe (Crambe abyssinica) and canola (Brassica napus L.). The experiment was conducted in a 5 × 2×2 factorial scheme, and five grain moisture contents (9.44%, 7.76%, 6.68%, 6.82% and 7.77%) were tested for canola, crambe, peanut, sunflower and soybean, respectively, two solvents (petroleum ether and hexane) and four repetitions, totaling 80 experimental units. The solvents presented have no influence on the content of sunflower oil and soybean, while extractions of dry grains result in an increase in the content of sunflower oil, regardless of the solvent used. The interaction between the solvent of hexane (without moisture in the grains) optimizes the extraction of canola oil. It was also verified the highest percentage of peanut oil content (43.49%) extracted with petroleum ether with moisture in the grains (6.69%). For the grains of crambe, the humidity of (7.76%) presented the best percentage with 11.95% of oil.