Analyzing the bleaching effects of activated carbon produced from natural coal on soyabean oil and Goya olive oil

Abstract

Many contaminants, such as phosphatides, mucins, free fatty acids, dyes, and compounds that impact the color and odor, are present in crude fats and oils in variable concentrations. The standard chemical refining process removes these contaminants at numerous stages, including activation, carbonization, filtration, absorption, degumming, neutralization, and bleaching. While degumming is done to remove phosphatides so that hydratable phosphatides can be precipitated by adding water to the oil, non-hydrated phosphatides must be eliminated by adding acids, activation is done to open up the pore structure of the activated carbon. Additionally, free fatty acids are eliminated through neutralization with alkali hydroxides, producing soaps that can be eliminated, and undesirable colored impurities are eliminated through bleaching with an adsorptive reagent. Subsequently, the unwanted compounds are adsorbed and can be eliminated along with the adsorbent through filtration. Then, bleaching is done to get rid of color and unwelcome volatile and odiferous elements because bleaching removes numerous antioxidants. The equilibrium concentration, values for Ce/qc, b, and slopes for soybean oil and goya olive oil were calculated using the Langmuir isotherm equation. Ce/Qc = 1.Ce/Qo + 1/bQo, Ce = equilibrium concentration, Qc = percent absorption, 1/Qo = slope, Qo = adsorption capacity, and b = Langmuir constant. The results of % absorption obtained for soyabean oil are as follows; 86.90, 85.90, 86.90, 79.70, 78.40 and 29.60 while the results % absorption obtained for goya olive oil are 86.10, 84.10, 82.90, 81.80, 77.70, and 77.50 respectively. Based on their near range of adsorption capacities, it was concluded that activated coal was successful in bleaching both soyabean oil and goya olive oil. However, the activated coal had a little higher adsorption capacity on goya olive oil than soya bean oil.