Extraction of raw potash from cocoa pods: Influence of time and water volume

This paper has been written as part of recovery of cocoa waste. This study aims to extract raw potash from the ashes of dry cocoa pods using distilled water. For this purpose, cocoa pods and distilled water have been used. Two methods have been conducted: In the first part, a 50-gram sample of ash is dissolved in different volumes of distilled water that are 100, 200, 300, 400, 500 and 600 ml and then left to stand for 24 hours. In the second part, 50 g of ash are dissolved in 200 ml of distilled water with variable contact times between water and ash ranging from 1 hour to 8 hours, in one-hour steps. The filtrates obtained from solution are heated to evaporation in an oven to recover the pellets and weighed. Results shows that the masses of raw potash collected increase with the volume of the water, alsothe masses of raw potash pelletsincrease with the duration of the water-ash contact.