Effects of different solvents on the yield of oil from avocado fruit using hexane and petroleum ether

Abstract

This project was focused on comparing yields of different solvents when extracting avocado oil using the soslet pparatus. The petroleum ether and hexane were the solvents used to extract avocado oil. The avocado obtained from the market was peeled and deseed to remain with the mesocarp. The mesocarp was mashed using a blender to obtain a paste. The paste was dried in the oven to obtain avocado pulp. The pulp was smashed to reduce its size to ease extraction. The oil was obtained from the avocado pulp using the solvent using the soxhlet apparatus for a period of four hours. The solvent was separate from the oil using the rotatory evaporator and dried off in the oven to evaporate off any solvent that remained. The yield was obtained from the formula. The yield obtained from using hexane was higher than the yield when using petroleum ether. The yield obtained from extraction using hexame was 40% higher than the yield obtained from petroleum ether which was 32.89%.