The Effect of Solvent on the Oil Yield of Treculia Africana Seed Flour

Abstract

This paper looks at the extraction of oil from African Breadfruit (Treculia Africana) seeds using different solvents. The seeds were crushed into powder and the oil was extracted from the powder. The method of extraction employed was soxhlet (Solvent extraction method). The solvents used were Acetone, N-hexane, Ethanol, Petroleum Ether and Diethyl ether. The amount of oil extracted by each solvent was recorded and the % yield was calculated.Conc. Diethyl ether had the highest % yield of 15.02 while Ethanol had the lowest % yield of 0.2. Also there was a significant difference in the yield of oil extracted byDiethyl ether and Conc. Diethyl ether showing that the concentration of a particular solvent has an effect on the quantity of oil yield.