Hydrophobic Cetyltrimethylammonium Bromide-Pillared Bentonite as an Effective Palm Oil Bleaching Agent

[Image: see text] To promote a minimal use of acid in the activation of bentonite and to maintain oil quality during refinery and storage, a new class of bleaching agent, cetyltrimethylammonium bromide (CTAB)-pillared bentonite (CTAB@Bent), is fabricated. The influences of three independent intercalation variables, including temperature T (40, 50, and 60 °C), time t (2, 4, and 6 h), and CTAB loading m(c) (0.2, 0.25, 0.33, 0.50, and 1.00%, w/w), on the β-carotene removal rate are studied. The multilevel factorial design combined with the response surface methodology and three-way analysis of variance is employed to design and optimize experiments in regard to the three independent variables. Based on the optimization results, the highest β-carotene removal rate is monitored at 71.04% (w/w) using CTAB@Bent obtained at optimum intercalation conditions (CTAB@Ben-Opt): T = 40 °C, t = 3.2 h, m(c) = 1.00% (w/w). The mechanism study shows that the adsorption of β-carotene onto CTAB@Bent-Opt is spontaneous and endothermic, with the governing steps of physical interaction and ion exchange between β-carotene and the cationic head of CTAB. CTAB@Bent-Opt also exhibits characteristics superior to those of commercial raw bentonite and acid-activated bentonite, indicating that a more efficient β-carotene removal can be achieved using this new bleaching agent.