Authors : Tchatchueng Jean Bosco , C. Porte and A. Delacroix
Abstract: The main factors controlling the colour index of the neutral glanded cottonseed oil during the neutralization step which is the most critical of the refining process of glanded cottonseed oil were determined as storage conditions of crude glanded cottonseed oil, mass ratio of water to crude oil (X1); mass ratio of sodium hydroxide to crude oil (X2), temperature of the neutralization (X3). After determining the optimal storage conditions, a 23 factorial central composite experimental design was used to study the combined effect of these factors and to optimize their levels to reduce the colour index of the neutral glanded cottonseed oil. A polynomial model of the colour index of the neutral glanded cottonseed oil was deducted from statistical analysis of experiments. Paréto analysis indicated that the influences of the main factors (X1, X2 and X3) on the colour index of the neutral oil were 9.17%, while the interaction effects (X1X2, X1X3, X1X2X3) and quadratic effects (X1*X1, X2*X2, X3*X3) were 37.47 and 53.32%, respectively. Under the optimized conditions, the colour index of the neutral glanded cottonseed oil was ranged from 9.58 to 12.53, value that is more than 50% lower than the colour index (23.7) of the previous industrial neutral glanded cottonseed oil. The optimal combination of the neutralization parameters for the minimum colour index of the neutral glanded cottonseed oil from contour plot were: mass ratio of water to crude glanded cottonseed oil 10.75%, mass ratio of sodium hydroxide to crude glanded cottonseed oil 2.8%, temperature of the neutralization 70�C. Isoresponse curves and contour plot were drawn from the mathematical model enable one to demonstrate the robustness of this optimization method.
Tchatchueng Jean Bosco , C. Porte and A. Delacroix , 2008. Optimization of the Colour Index of the Neutral Glanded Cottonseed. Journal of Engineering and Applied Sciences, 3: 455-461.