Rice bran is a by-product of rice processing obtained through the polishing of the rice grain. It contains 12-20% edible oil content. A pressurized liquid extraction (PLE) method was developed for the extraction of rice bran oil using n-hexane as solvent and central composite design (CCD) method for optimization. The supercritical fluid extraction apparatus was modified to be able to pump alternatively, liquid solvent into the extraction vessel. The influence of the effective variables (i.e., temperature, time, pressure and flow rate) was optimized by a factorial design method. The model allows the prediction of the extraction yield at different conditions. The PLE of rice bran oil was found comparable in term of the extraction yield with the Soxhlet and Soxtec methods. The method of ANOVA was used to evaluate the validity of the model. There was no lack of fit at the confidence limit of 95%. The extraction yield calculated from the model is plotted versus the experimental extraction yield with R 2 =0.9212. PLE offers advantages of low consumed solvent and reduced extraction time over the Soxhlet and Soxtec methods.
