Purifying Used Cooking Oil

I. INTRODUCTION

Background of the Study

Oil used in cooking foods is commonly derived from vegetables. Cooking oil is commonly used for frying and oil used for frying is usually thrown away. The recycling of cooking oil also provides a form of revenue for restaurants, which are sometimes compensated by cooking oil recyclers for their used deep fryer oil. Cooking oil recycling also results in less used oil being disposed of in drains, which can clog sewage lines due to the build-up of fats.

Statement of the Problem

How to purify and reuse cooking oil for further usage? Definition of Terms:

Cooking oil – Any of numerous vegetable oils used in cooking

Vegetable oil - any of a large group of oils that are esters of fatty acids andglycerol, obtained from the leaves, fruit, or seeds of plants.

Filter - A porous material through which a liquid or gas is passed in order to separate the fluid from suspended particulate matter

Purify - To rid of impurities; cleanse

Abstract
This investigatory project determines the possibility of purifying used cooking oil using sedimentation method. The activated carbon was also used in the experiment to absorb some dissolved substances in the oil. There were three different setups used in this study namely; Setup 1 (sedimentation was done once); Setup 2 (sedimentation was done twice); and Setup 3 (sedimentation was done thrice).
The purified oil was compared to commercial oil in terms of color, odor, and clearness using acceptability test. Viscosity test was also done in the laboratory.
The means of the samples were compared and revealed that purified oil had no significant difference to commercial cooking oil in terms of color/clearness and odor as the result of the acceptability test. Therefore, sedimentation is a possible method of purifying used cooking oil.

To purify and reuse cooking oil you need just a few basic things, most of which can easily be found in every kitchen, or are readily