Extraction of mango seed kernel oil using the Soxhlet method with ethanol as a solvent

Mango seeds contain an edible oil in the kernel. The oil can be obtained using solvent extraction. In this study, the Soxhlet extraction method was used to obtain mango seed kernel oil using ethanol as a solvent, and to produce a high yield, the central composite design of response surface methodology was applied for the experimental design. Design expert software v.11 was applied to assist in the design and interpretation of multifactor experiments. The experimental variables are the concentration of ethanol and the volume of ethanol. The desired response was the maximum mango seed kernel oil (MSKO) yield. Based on numerical optimization, the maximum MSKO yield was observed under experimental conditions of 77.9% ethanol and 305.5 mL ethanol volume in 50 g of mango seed kernel flour. The maximum MSKO yield under these conditions was 14.34%. Triplicate experiments were performed to verify the model using the extraction conditions recommended by the software. The average result obtained was 14.52%, with a coefficient of variation of 0.3%. The results achieved explain that the model developed was valid and quite consistent in optimizing the MSKO yield in the Soxhlet extraction method.