Analysis of the Factors Affecting the Oil Recovery from Oilseeds in a Multistage Crosscurrent Leaching Process.

The analysis of the total oil recovery from oilseeds in a multi-stage crosscurrent leaching process is presented. The model created using mass balance equations for three stages was used to analyze the factors affecting total oil recovery, To. The key performance factors (raw meal feed flow rate, solvent feed flow rate in each stage, solvent distribution factor for each stage, percent oil in the raw meal (Poil), solids to solution ratio in the underflow (N), solvent to solids ratio (SSR), solvent to oil ratio (SOR) and wash ratio (WR) were varied while assessing To. While SSRi and SORi ranged from 0.1 to 10 and from 0.1 to 100, respectively, N varied between 1 and 7. The variation of To with the key variables were fitted using polynomial functions, whose degree increased with N at fixed values of solvent feed flow rate (Vs) and raw meal flow rate (F). To was the highest when α1 and α2 ranged from 0.05 to 0.3 and 0.05 to 0.2, respectively. The highest percent contribution to To was from Stage 1 (50 - 80%) followed by Stage 3 (10 to 40%). Optimal settings for the newly introduced parameters (SSRi, SORi and -1) and solvent distribution factors are recommended for maximizing the total oil recovery. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]