The Effectiveness of Activated Carbon as an Adsorbent in Reducing Acid and Peroxide Levels in the Refining of Rice Bran Oil (Oryza sativa L.)

Abstract

Rice bran is one of the by-products of the rice milling process that has the potential to be utilized because
it contains 10-13% bran oil. Rice bran oil can be used as raw material for pharmaceuticals, cosmetics,
and food oils. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of activated carbon concentration and
blanching process time on the quality of rice bran oil and it is hoped that bran oil will meet quality
standards by looking at 3 parameters, namely acid number, peroxide number, and color inspection. The
purification process is carried out in 4 stages, namely the extraction, distillation, degumming, and
bleaching processes. The dependent variable in this study was the concentration of activated charcoal
carbon and the bleaching time where the concentrations used 5%, 6%, 7% of the weight of the oil and the
bleaching time was 15 minutes, 25 minutes, 35 minutes. The independent variables are the value of the
acid number and the peroxide number which will be compared before and after purification. The best
research results on acid number using 7% activated charcoal carbon concentration and a bleaching time
of 35 minutes the value is 0,36 mg NaOH/g with a percentage decrease of 61%. The best results on the
peroxide number using activated charcoal carbon concentration of 7% and bleaching time of 25 minutes
the value is 6,7 mek O 2 /Kg with a percentage decrease of 77%. The results of the analysis, activated
charcoal can be used as an adsorbent in the bran oil purification process because it provides a
significant value before and after purification.