Deacidification of corn oil by solvent extraction in a perforated rotatingdisc column

The deacidification of corn oil by continuous liquid-liquid extraction was investigated in a rotating disc column. The solvent was ethanol containing approximately 6% water. The influence of rotor speed, oil phase flow, and c olumn geometry upon the dispersed phase holdup and the mass transfer effici ency was studied. The dispersed phase holdup increased with the increase of rotor speed and oil phase flow. Pratt's equation was used for calculating the characteristic velocity. An inverse relation was observed between the c haracteristic velocity and rotor speed, which is different from data previo usly reported in the literature. The estimated volumetric mass transfer coe fficients increased as rotor speed and oil phase flow increased. The experi mental results proved that it is feasible to obtain a refined oil with an o leic acid content less than 0.3 wt% by continuous solvent extraction. They also indicated that the corresponding loss of neutral oil was less than 5 w t%. Such value for the loss of neutral oil is significantly lower than the results reported in the literature for alkali or physical refining of corn oil.