Effect of Temperature on Extraction of Castor Oil from Castor Seeds Using Potential Green Solvents

Extraction of castor oil from castor seeds was investigated using different green solvents which include d-limonene, p-cymene, α-pinene, ethanol, and furfural at the temperature range of (323 - 413) K. The Soxhlet extraction method was employed to investigate the effect of temperature at atmospheric pressure. The focus of the study was to investigate a potential green solvent that can produce the high yields compared to the traditional solvent (hexane). The results show that at the average time of 3 hours and 30 minutes, the castor oil yield for green solvents were ranked as furfural (47.13%) > ethanol (45.37%) > p-cymene (39.15%) > d-limonene (39.13%) > α-pinene (38.11%). These castor oil yields were obtained at optimum temperatures for each green solvent. The castor oil yields were compared to the yield of hexane (31.36%) at same average time. The green solvents were recovered by using simple distillation, except furfural which was difficult to be recovered.