Deacidification of palm oil by solvent extraction

• Alternative process to refining of vegetable oils is proposed.
• Deacidification of palm oil by liquid–liquid extraction using ethanol as solvent.
• Optimizing process conditions were obtained using response surface methodology.
• Low losses of neutral oil and carotenoids preservation were observed.

The present work reports the influence of some process variables on the losses/transfer of fatty compounds during the deacidification of palm oil by liquid–liquid extraction. The response surface methodology (RSM) was used to analyze the effect of the mass ratio of oil to solvent and the water content in the solvent, aiming to minimize the losses of neutral oil and maximize the transfer of free fatty acids plus carotenoids preservation. By using appropriate conditions observed in RSM analysis (mass ratio of oil to solvent equal to 0.74 and water content around 6 mass%), the deacidification of palm oil by continuous liquid–liquid extraction was performed in a perforated rotating disc contactor (PRDC). The experimental results indicate that it is possible to obtain refined palm oil with a free acidity lower than 0.1 mass% by continuous liquid–liquid extraction.