Soxhlet extraction of oil from aleurites moluccana nut : the effects of extraction temperature and liquid/solid ratio

The world-wide consumption of vegetable oils to increase by at least 50% for the past decade. Due to this fact, various plants were studied for their potential sources of vegetable oil. For this study, Aleurites Moluccana oil was extracted using Soxhlet method and the effect of extraction temperature and solid to liquid ratio were analyzed. From the results obtained, candlenut yield quite high percentage oil and showed its potential as an alternative sources of vegetable oils. For Soxhlet extraction of candlenut oil, the oil yield percentage increases as temperature and solid to liquid ratio increases. By combining these two parameters, the optimum temperature and solid to liquid ratio were 95oC and 1g/45 mL respectively with yield of 45.17%. The major constituents of candlenut oil found were linoleic acid, palmitic acid, oleic acid and stearic acid.