yield

The yield of Shea butter extracted in an unbaffled vessel equipped with an impeller was optimized by varying kneading time, kneading temperature and kneading speed using response surface method (RSM). Helical shaped impeller was mounted on a variable speed Tecmix TM 1100 kneader to knead the Shea paste. Minitab 16.1 software was used for the design and optimization of the process variables. The study indicated that the temperature and speed were highly significant on Shea butter oil yield with p-values of 0.001 and 0.002, respectively.

The most typical behaviour features of polymer nanocomposites filled with dispersed calcium carbonate were considered. The quantitative analysis was carried out within the frameworks of structural model: the cluster model of polymers amorphous state structure and fractal analysis. It has been shown that all changes of the considered nanocomposites properties were defined by polymeric matrix structure variations, which are due to nanofiller introduction.

The effect of temperature, catalyst type, alcohol and dicarboxylic structures, as well as reagents ratio on the selectivity of formation and yield of mono- and diesters has been determined under stationary conditions for adipic (AA) and succinic acids (SA) esterification by C2–C5 aliphatic alcohols. It has been proved by the theory and experiments that maximum selectivity of dicarboxylic acids (DCA) monoesters formation during their esterification by alcohols is achieved at the ratio between flow rate constants of monoester and DCA less than 0.1.