Deacidification of Brazil Nut and Macadamia Nut Oils by Solvent Extraction: Liquid-Liquid Equilibrium Data at 298.2 K

The present paper reports phase equilibrium experimental data for two systems composed by Brazil nut oil or macadamia nut oil + commercial oleic acid + ethanol + water, at 298.2 K and different water contents in the solvent. The addition of water to the solvent reduces the loss of neutral oil in the alcoholic phase and improves the solvent selectivity. The experimental data were subsequently correlated by the NRTL and UNIQUAC models. Global deviations between calculated and experimental results not higher than 1.5% were obtained for all systems, indicating that both models were able to reproduce correctly the experimental data, although the NRTL model presented a better performance.