Extraction and Characterization of Essential Oil from Margosa Seed
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Date
2011-06
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Addis Ababa University
Abstract
The objective of this study was to develop a process for the extraction of essential oil from Neem
seed. The extraction was carried out using soxhlet and agitated mixing vessel extraction units. In
the soxhlet extraction a n-hexane was chosen to determine the effect of time and particle size on
yield of the extraction oil. In the agitated mixing vessel n-hexane and ethanol were used to
investigate the effects of solvents, particle sizes, and temperatures (30, 40 and 50oC) on the
quality and yield. A general factorial design was applied to both extraction processes using
DESIGN EXPERT software and linear regression model was obtained growing the individual
effect of time, particle size, temperature and solvent type as parameter and their interaction in the
entire extraction process. For the soxhlet extraction, the minimum oil yield has been determined
as 37.625% after the extraction time of 2hours with particle size ranges from 0.85-1.4mm and
maximum oil yield 46.545% was found at the extraction time of 6 and 8hours in a particle size
ranges from 0.425-0.75mm. Therefore, increasing extraction time and decreasing particle size
will increase the amount of oil extracted. In the batch experiment, results showed that the
maximum oil yields were 33.19% for ethanol and 47.32% for n-hexane at 50oC, and 0.425-0.71
mm particle size. The Neem oil was found to have a colour of golden yellow due to the presence
of Nimbidin. Based on psycho-chemical characteristics, analysis showed that increasing
temperature decrease iodine value, but increase saponification, and acid value, which means that
higher extraction temperature results in higher oil yield but lower oil quality. The rough
profitability evaluation indicates us this project is beneficial as it is clearly observed from the
cost estimation, the rate of return on investment was calculated and has 79.45% and the payback
period tells us the plant return its total investment cost in one year.
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Process Engineering Stream