Soxhlet extraction

By-Shewarega Habtamu
Objectives

 To study the working principle of Soxhlet extractor .

 To determine the percentage of extracted oil from oil cake.
 To determine the percentage of solvent (n-Hexane) recovery
used for extraction.
Parts and principles

 Invented by in 1879 by
Franz von Soxhlet.

 Oil is soluble in organic

solvents & insoluble in
water.
 Solvent extraction generally includes three
steps
• Diffusion of the solvent through the pores of solid
• Diffused solvent dissolves the solute
• Transfer of the solution from porous solid to the
main bulk of the solution
 Solvent properties
 Selectivity (Separation Factor): If there are more than one
solutes, then we have to for the appropriate solvent due to the
chances of intermixing.

 Insolubility of Solvent: The solvent should have low solubility in

the feed solution.

 Recoverability: The solvent should be thermally stable at the

distillation temperature due to its volatility.
Cont’d

 Density: should be lower than water.

 Interfacial Tension: The larger the interfacial tension,  the more difficult the
dispersion of one liquid in the other will be.

 Chemical Reactivity: chemically stable and inert.

 Non-toxic
 Economic consideration (Cost)
 Effect on oil quality….etc
REQUIREMENTS

• Weighing balance • Desiccator with silica gel

• Soxhlet apparatus • Hexane (Boiling temperature
• Drying oven 60°c)

• Thimble • Cotton plugs

• Heating mantle • Rotary evaporator
• Glass rod • Oil seed
PROCEDURE
1. First of all, rinse all the glass apparatus by Hexane
and dry it in the oven at 102°c and after removing it
keep in the desiccator.
2. Weigh 20 gram of grounded and dried sample and
place it in the thimble.
3. Place the thimble in the Soxhlet extractor.
4. Take a 150ml round bottom flask and clean it and fill
the flask with 360 ml Hexane.
5. Place the whole setting on a heating mantle and allow
the Hexane to boil.
 Cont’d
6. Continue the extraction process for three hours.
7. Remove the condensing unit from extraction unit and allow the
sample to cool down. Finally, it removes all the oil.
8. Collect almost all the solvent after simple distillation (Rotary
evaporator).
6. Place the sample in the oven and after removing it
place in the desiccator.
7. Take the weight of the sample. As a result, we get
a defat sample.
CALCULATION

Empty thimble= w1……………..(initial measurement)

Thimble with sample= w2……(measurement after oven drying)
Weight of sample= p…………(initial measurement)
Then crude fat percentage ig= (w2-w1) ⁄ p × 100
Interpretation of the result

1. Calculate the percentage of crude oil of the oil seed.

2. Compare your result with literature data.
3. Calculate the percentage of recovered hexane.
4. Discuss the effect of size reduction on extraction efficiency.