How to Solvent Extraction of Groundnut Oil?

The solvent extraction of groundnut oil is a traditional peanut oil production process and one of the most common methods. It extracts the oil from groundnuts by crushing them into smaller particles and then soaking them in a solvent. Commonly used solvents include hexane, petroleum ether, and chloroform.
The solvent extraction process of groundnut oil can be divided into the following steps: pretreatment of groundnut fragments, soaking, separation, and desolventization.

1. Groundnut Fragments Pretreatment

   First, the groundnut fragments must undergo a preliminary treatment. This includes removing impurities and breaking up the groundnut particles. This is to improve the leaching efficiency of the oil.

2. Groundnut Particles Soaking

   Next, after the groundnuts have been pretreated, place them in a soaking facility and add a solvent. The solvent penetrates the cell walls in the groundnut particles while dissolving the oils in the groundnuts. The choice of solvent is very important as it needs to have enough solvency to effectively extract the oils and fats, but not negatively affect the oils and fats.
   The soaking time is usually long to ensure that the oils and fats in the groundnuts are completely extracted. During the soaking process, the concentration of oil in the solvent gradually increases. The length of soaking time affects the extraction rate and quality of the oil. (Read more: solvent oil extraction >>)

3. Groundnuts and Solvent Separation

   Then, after the end of soaking, separate the soaked groundnuts and the solvent. This is usually achieved by treatments such as sedimentation, centrifugation, filtration, and distillation. During the separation process, separate the solvent is for recovery and reuse.

4. Groundnuts Oil Desolventization

   Finally, the step is desolventization. This is to remove residual solvents from the extracted groundnut oil. Desolventization is generally done by distillation. During distillation, the solvent is heated so that it changes to a gaseous state and evaporates from the oil. This results in pure groundnut oil.