Mathematical simulation of behavior of sunflower oil extraction by supercritical carbon dioxide

In this research, oil extraction from sunflower seeds by supercritical carbon dioxide was simulated employing Shrinking Core Model inside a packed bed. Utilized operational conditions included; Temperature range of 313-343K, pressure range of 15-35 MPa, the particle size range of 0.1-3.0 mm and solvent flow rate 0.4-4.5 cm3/min. The developed model in this research considers four adjustable parameters namely the effective diffusion coefficient in the particles, Dep, mass transfer coefficient thru the bed and in a particle, Kf and Ks as well as, the axial dispersion coefficient, DL. Under aforementioned conditions the mass transfer coefficient thru the bed was determined to be 1.76- 3.75×10-8 m/s and axial dispersion coefficient was calculated to be 0.74-1.07×10-6 m2/s. From comparison of this model’s results and experimental data available in the literature, it was concluded that the shrinking core model predicts behavior of the sunflower oil extraction by supercritical fluid extraction (SFE) quite satisfactory. Ultimately, comparison the SFE model results and those obtained from the conventional Soxhlet method leads one to conclude that the amount of extraction in the former is much more than that of latter at a given time.

کلیدواژه ها:

Supercritical Extraction ، Shrinking Core Model ، SC-CO2 ، Sunflower oil