Deacidification of Coconut Oil by Membrane Filtration.

Ultrafiltration (UF) of coconut oil was carried out
using a Millipore membrane cell at different pressures (0.1–
0.4 MPa) and with different molecular weight cutoff membranes,
that is,YM-1 (1 kDa), YM-3 (3 kDa), YM-10
(10 kDa), YM-30 (30 kDa), and PLTK-30 (30 kDa). Reduction
of free fatty acids (FFAs) was 93.6%, 92.7%, 83.5%,
82.6%, and 81.6% with ethanol, methanol, acetone, n-propanol,
and isopropyl alcohol, respectively, in three-stage filtration.
The effects of temperature and applied pressure on
the permeate flux and oil rejection were also studied with
membranes using multistage filtration. As pressure increased
from 0.1 to 0.4 MPa, the permeate flux and oil
rejection increased linearly. A significant reduction of FFA
was observed, which is in proportional with the amount of
solvent in the feed used. The oil loss was less at lower
temperature (25 °C) and pressure (0.2 MPa). Using PLTK
30 membrane with three-stage filtration, reduction of FFA
was achieved up to 93% and 94% with methanol and ethanol
solvents, respectively.