PRODUCTION AND REFINING OF CORN OIL FROM HOMINY FEED A BY-PRODUCT OF DEHULLING OPERATION

Abstract

The focus of this work is to produce and refine corn oil from the by-product of the local dehulling/degermination of corn with soxhlet apparatus using n-hexane as solvent. The extraction was done for duration of three and six hours using 12g each of unsieved sample and various fractions of the sample. Average oil yield were 14.28% and 14.50% for extraction time of three and six hours respectively. The extracted crude oil was refined to improve its quality by degumming, alkali refining and decolourization. Both the crude and refined corn oil was analyzed to determine some of their properties and subsequently, the results were compared with standard values. There were indications that the oil yield of the sample can be improved upon for it to serve as raw material for the production of corn oil.