Abstract:
Spent bleaching earth (SBE) is classified as an industrial waste generated by almost all crude palm oil refinery around the globe. It contains oil content in the range of 20-40% by weight, which is being extracted out by a solvent extraction process plant to cater for biodiesel production. Previous studies were merely focusing on the optimization of various plant and seeds extraction parameters based on a laboratory scale. Hence, a study on the optimization of the solvent extraction parameters is the key element for an enhanced SBE oil extraction process plant management. This study shall pioneer in establishing the relationship of mass balance with the optimized extraction parameters to enable plant managers to monitor the inputs and outputs of each plant equipment to operate the plant more efficiently. In this study, the extraction parameters, namely, settling rate, n-hexane temperature, and slurry concentration were optimized by response surface method (RSM) using Box-Behnken Design (BBD) to produce the maximum extraction oil rate. The independent variables, settling rate (13ml, 11ml, and 8ml), n-hexane temperature (45°C, 50°C, and 55°C), and slurry concentration (30%, 35%, and 40%) were selected for optimization by coding at three-factorial levels and their values were selected based on the extraction plant current operating condition and limitation. The BBD consisted of 17 experimental actual production plant runs with 3 hours of continuous process control with a steady-state operation for each run. A second-order polynomial model was used for predicting the response outcomes. ANOVA of the conducted experimental runs concluded that 96.9% of the variation was explained by the models. The optimized extraction parameters were 13ml, 55°C, and 30%, for settling rate, n-hexane temperature, and slurry concentration, respectively. Under the optimized extraction parameters, the values of the corresponding response, extraction oil rate were 2.08 tonne per hour. Mass balance computation was established subsequently based on the studied extraction process plant's process flow diagram (PFD) of various equipment's input and output. The computation which was performed via SuperPro Designer software was able to calculate the extracted oil rate within the 95% statistical confidence level generated by the RSM.
Page(s):
123-133
DOI:
DOI not available
Published:
Journal: Science International, Volume: 33, Issue: 2, Year: 2021
Keywords:
ANOVA
,
RSM
,
mass balance
,
SuperPro Designer
,
optimization
,
BoxBehnken design
,
Spent bleaching earth