Abstract

Extraction of oil from moringa seed was carried out in this work and the kinetic and thermodynamic parameters of the extraction process determined. The proximate analysis of moringa seed revealed that the moisture, ash, crude protein, crude lipid, carbohydrate, and crude fibre contents were 0.7, 1.4, 2.9, 39.6, 53.6, and 1.8%, respectively. The optimum parameters for the oil extraction from a 500 microns particle size were found to be 17.5 ml/g volume of solvent to mass ratio, extraction temperature and time were 343.15 K and 180 minutes respectively. The extraction kinetics was found to obey the fifth order with an activation energy, Ea,.............................................................................