Effect of Temperature on Dynamic Viscosity, Density and Flow Rate of Coconut Oil

This study was conducted to evaluate the correlation between extraction techniques and the oil yield of coconut. Relationship between temperature, dynamic viscosity and flow rate of the extracted oils was determined. Coconut oil Three oil extraction techniques were used namely; solvent extraction (SE), wet mill cold extraction (WMCE) and wet mill hot extraction (WMHE) SE had the highest oil recovery (79.52%). There was no significant difference between the yield of oil from wet mill cold extraction (45.13%) and wet mill hot extraction (42.19%). The dynamic viscosities of the oils extracted from the different techniques were determined at different temperatures (30°C-100°C) and shear rates (6rpm, 12rpm, 30rpm and 60rpm) using NDJ-5S viscometer. The result of analysis of variance showed that the interaction between temperature, dynamic viscosity at different shear rate of the coconut oil was significant (P<0.05). The mean flow rate of coconut oil extracted from the different extraction techniques at different temperatures of 30°C to 100°C ranged from 3.50 ml/s to 6.61 ml/s, 4.16 ml/s to 6.81 ml/s and 3.95 ml/s to 6.64 ml/s for WMCE, WMHE and SE respectively. The correlation between temperature and dynamic viscosity of the extracted oils showed negative non-linear relationship. A positive non-linear relationship was observed between oil flow rate and temperature.