Comparative analysis on the bleaching of crude palm oil using activated groundnut hull, snail shell and rice husk

Researchers have found out several ways by which environmental pollution can be of positive relevance by recycling the waste to ensure a cleaner and healthier environment. The bleaching process is a crucial process in palm oil refining in which an adsorbent is majorly used to adsorb the unwanted colour pigments and a wide range of other impurities. This study aims to modify three different adsorbents; Groundnut hull, Snail shell, and rice husk and processed them into powder form as Groundnut hull powder [GHP], Snail shell powder [SSP] and Rice husk powder [RHP] respectively. The effects of three factors: temperature, mass and time were investigated on the response. MINITAB 19 software was employed which resulted in 20 runs. The optimization of the bleaching effects imposed by the adsorbents on palm oil using Central Composite Design (CCD) was evaluated. The free fatty acid and peroxide value decrease with bleaching while the saponification value increased with bleaching. The analysis conducted shows that groundnut hull was able to adsorb the most significant value of FFA and peroxide value in the palm oil. The lowest value of FFA obtained indicates that bleaching increases the shelf life of the oil and makes it more suitable for soap making.