Separation of Soybean Oil/n-hexane Miscellas Using Polymeric Membranes

Abstract

Separation of refined soybean oil/n-hexane miscellas was studied using different commercial ultra-and nanofiltration membranes, with cutoffs in the range of 1 to 5 kDa and salt rejection higher than 97% (MgSO 4). Commercial soybean oil and n-hexane miscellas with 1:3 and 1:1 mass ratios were permeated in a dead-end module. The effects of the feed pressure (2-25 bar) on oil and n-hexane fluxes and rejection were investigated. Oil rejection ranged from negative values to 30.8%, soybean oil flux from 28.9 to 617.8 g/m-2 h-1 and n-hexane flux from 8.5 to 1,078.5 g m-2 h-1. Membrane fouling was observed at all experimental conditions studied. The membrane separation process has proven to be a promising alternative to solvent recovery in soybean oil extraction.