Application of Ultrasound-assisted Solvent Extraction for Recovery of Oil from Palm Oil Mill Effluent

In this study, application of ultrasound-assisted solvent extraction for recovery of oil from palm oil mill effluent (POME) was studied. Extraction conditions such as volume ratio of POME to solvent, extraction time and type of solvent were investigated. Extraction was carried out at room temperature with total volume (POME and solvent) of 300 ml. The experimental results showed that ultrasound-assisted extraction provided higher yield than without ultrasound using mechanical stirring. The highest oil yield of 0.265 % obtained at ultrasound-assisted extraction condition of volume ratio of POME to solvent 5: 1, extraction time of 60 minutes using n-hexane as solvent. The highest oil yield and carotene concentration were obtained by n-hexane. Meanwhile, there was no significant differenece of carotene concentration obtained from ultrasound-assisted and without ultrasound-assisted extraction.