Decontamination of groundnut oil from aflatoxin by adsorption-cum-filtration.

Attempts were made at laboratory and pilot plant level to remove aflatoxin from groundnut oil by using filter pads. The filter pads tried were (i) Celite and salt (1:10), (ii) activated fullers' earth and salt (1:2 and 1:10), and (iii) kaolin and salt (1:2). Of these (iii) proved best for removing aflatoxin, but the rate of filtration was low. Hence (ii) with 1:2 ratio proved most efficient (96% aflatoxin removed) and rapid. This was further used to remove aflatoxin on a pilot scale employing a plate-and-frame filter press, the efficiency being 88-90% for removal of aflatoxin. The pad can be used to filter 200 kg oil at a filtration rate of 12 kg oil/h, the aflatoxin content in filtered oil being 0.025 p.p.m.