Equilibrium Data for the System Rice Bran Oil + Fatty Acids + Ethanol + Water at 298.2 K

Abstract

This work presents experimental data for the model system refined rice bran oil + commercial oleic acid + ethanol + water at 298.2 K. These data were correlated by the NRTL and UNIQUAC models, with a global deviation of approximately 0.7% for both models. The equilibrium of crude rice bran oil + aqueous ethanol was predicted with success using the adjusted interaction parameters, with deviation between calculated and experimental results not higher than 0.54%. The results showed that the addition of water to the solvent increases the solvent selectivity, reducing the losses of neutral oil and nutraceutical compounds, and expands the region of phase splitting, allowing the refining of highly acidic crude rice bran oils by solvent extraction.