Introduction
The aim of carrying out the soxhlet practical was to find a percentage for the amount of fat in a small portion of minced meat. Soxhlet extraction is one of the most commonly used methods for determining the amount of fat in food products. The method for the procedure is fairly straight forward and most commonly used for the fat content to be recognised.
The soxhlet extractor was invented in 1879, by Franz Van Soxhlet. The experiment was typically designed to measure the fat in foods that are soluble in a solvent. .(Meullemiestre, A. Breil, C; Abert-Vlan, M. Chemat, F 2015). And today that is most commonly what it is used for, however there is no limitation on the soxhlet extractor to remove lipids, typically …show more content…
Next a measurement of roughly 5g of the particular food source in this case minced meat was measured. The thimble containing the measured minced meat was then put into a beaker and placed in the oven at 1050C for at least 90 minutes, allowing the minced meat to dry out.
The next step involved drying a round- bottomed flask and also putting this in the 1050C oven for 30 minutes. Then it was cooled in a desiccator and the mass was recorded.
After the 90 minutes had passed the porous thimble containing the food was placed into the Soxhlet extraction flask and then it was connected to the extraction flask, which was then connected to the round-bottom flask. Petroleum ether was then poured into the Soxhlet extraction flask until it first siphoned over, then this was continued until the flask was nearly half full.
Then the Soxhlet extraction flask was connected to the reflux condenser, and all the joints were greased. Very gently the round bottom flask was heated allowing ‘reflux’ for about 90 minutes. This was then stopped when the extractor reached full, in other words when the smallest amount of ether is in the flask. After this the extractor and the condenser were moved and the petroleum ether solvent was