De-acidification effects of rice hull-based adsorbents as affected by thermal treatment

Abstract

Desiccated copra mills generate larger volumes of coconut water. Disposing it is an environmental problem due to high organic load. Production of coconut crude oil is a remedy but high free fatty acid content which is approximately ten times higher than commercial coconut oil and the dark brownish colour limited its� uses only to soap-making industry. The scope of this study is to identify a remedial action to reduce the free fatty acid content of coconut crude oil using rice hull ash (RHA) and rice hull silica (RHS) which will improve the quality of the oil.