Oil Extraction from Oil Cake

In this research, the extraction of oil was done using the sunflower and peanut oil cakes by the Soxhlet extraction method and the operation continued until the oils are obtained. Five physical and chemical tests (Viscosity, Specific gravity, Refractive index, Free Fatty Acid and Peroxide Value) were performed on the extracted oils. The Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) was used to analyze the results of the five tests. Since the mentioned oil cakes contained an estimated percentage of oil, it was necessary to re-extract the amount of oil remaining in them to take advantage of all the existing quantity and several chemical solvents (N-hexane and ethanol) to compare them against each other and adopt the solvent that extracted the largest amount of oil. The results of the sunflower’s oil cake extraction are represented by recovery percentages of 80.7% and 68.7% for N-hexane and ethanol respectively and the percentages of the extracted oil of 4.35% and 3.8 % for N-hexane and ethanol respectively, while the peanut’s oil cake recovery percentages of 86.7% and 73.33% for N-hexane and ethanol respectively and the percentages of the extracted oil of 5.4% and 4.85% for N-hexane and ethanol respectively. Based on the SPSS results and taking standard physical and chemical properties into consideration, N-hexane was found to be the best solvent for both sunflower and peanut. This research is hoped to help researchers and investors by offering the proportions and properties of oils extracted from each oil cake with two effective solvents and obtaining oil-free extraction residues suitable for other uses.