Separation of fatty acids/triacylglycerol by membranes

Separation of fatty acids from triacylglycerol by membrane separation technique has been studied. Mixtures of triacylglycerols and fatty acids were extracted with alcohol, and the alcohol extracts were treated for recovery of oil by membrane separation technique. The membranes used were of both cellulosic and noncellulosic types. Polyamide membranes showed better selectivity toward fatty acid separation as compared to cellulose acetate and polysulfone membranes. For groundnut oil/fatty acid/alcohol mixture and a polyamide membrane, the free fatty acid (FFA) concentration in the permeate was 86.82% at 0.7 MPa pressure when the feed had 61.71% FFA. A reasonable permeate flux of 67.36 Im−2h−1 was obtained. Results obtained have been useful in selecting membrane material suitable for such applications.