Bleaching of Neutral Cotton Seed Oil Using Organic Activated Carbon in a Batch System: Kinetics and Adsorption Isotherms

In the processing of cotton and neem seeds to obtain oil for diverse uses, enormous quantities of seed husk are generated as waste, which when not properly disposed of, poses environmental problems. One way of reducing this waste is to use it for the production of activated carbon (AC) for its multi...

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Bibliographic Details
Published inProcesses Vol. 6; no. 3; p. 22
Main Authors Chetima, Abba, Wahabou, Abdoul, Zomegni, Gaston, Ntieche Rahman, Abdoul, Bup Nde, Divine
Format Journal Article
LanguageEnglish
Published Basel MDPI AG 01.03.2018
Subjects
Activated carbon
Adsorption
Bleaches
Bleaching
Bleaching earth
Carbonization
Cotton
Decoloring
Isotherms
Mathematical models
Neem
Oil and gas industry
Oilseeds
Pigments
Porosity
Seeds
Surface properties
Waste disposal
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Summary:In the processing of cotton and neem seeds to obtain oil for diverse uses, enormous quantities of seed husk are generated as waste, which when not properly disposed of, poses environmental problems. One way of reducing this waste is to use it for the production of activated carbon (AC) for its multiple applications. In this work, activated carbon was produced from cotton and neem seed husks by carbonization followed by acid activation. The prepared ACs were characterized for its porosity and surface properties as well as for its ability to bleach neutral cotton seed oil. The prepared ACs are very efficient in the decoloration process, as they removed about 96-98% of the pigments compared to 98.4% removal with commercial bleaching earth. Temperature had a pronounced effect on the bleaching of neutral cotton seed oil. Maximum adsorption was observed at 60 °C for a contact time of 45 min. The adsorption kinetics were modelled by the intra-particle and the pseudo-second order equations while the adsorption isotherms followed the Langmuir and Freundlich equations. It is concluded that the organic ACs are efficient in pigment removal from neutral cotton seed oil and therefore are potential bleaching agents for the vegetable oil industry.
ISSN:2227-9717
2227-9717
DOI:10.3390/pr6030022