Lecture 3
Impurities in oil
1. Mechanical impurities
Mechanical impurities refer to sediment, cake residue, fiber, grass clippings and other solid
impurities that are mixed into the oil during vegetable oil making process or storage. Such
impurities are insoluble in fats and oils, so they can be removed by filtration or
sedimentation method.
2. Moisture impurities
The presence of moisture impurities makes the oil color darker, produces odor, promotes
rancidity, reduces the quality and use value of the vegetable oil. And it is not conducive to
vegetable oil safe storage. The vegetable oil refinery plant often uses heating to remove
moisture impurities in atmospheric pressure or reduced pressure condition.
3. Colloidal impurity
The colloidal impurities are easily affected by moisture, temperature and
electrolytes. Colloidal impurities presence in the crude vegetable oil is often removed by
hydration or addition of an electrolyte for acidification or alkali refining.
4. Fat-soluble impurities
The presence of free fatty acids in fat-soluble impurities affects the flavor and edible value of
the oil and increase the speed of oil rancidity. In vegetable oil refining process, fat-soluble
impurities are often removed by alkali refining and distillation.
Oxidation of oil
Degumming (Reasons)
The prime important points for undertaking the
degumming process in refinery are:
Elimination of Phosphatides from the crude oils to
improve the quality.
To avoid high refining losses due to emulsifying
property of gums
To avoid their decomposition so that oil does not
darken (char formation) due to their thermal
instability.
These form conjugated compounds with metals and
adversely affect oxidation stability of oil.
Phosphatides---Lecithin by-product
Removed in both acid degumming/ refining
Degumming Process
Degumming is the first process in the vegetable oil
refining which commences with the heating of crude
oil. The feedstock is taken into the degumming vessel
where the temperature of oil is raised slowly.
There are generally two different types of
phospholipids present in the crude oil depending
upon their hydration levels:
Hydratable or Water Degumming
Non-Hydratable or Acid Degumming
1. Water Degumming Process:
In water degumming method, the crude oil is heated
to 60-70 C and hydrated by mixing calculated amount
of water (3-5 % by wt of oil) for 30 min. Since hydrated
gums are insoluble in oil, hence it gets precipitated.
These hydrated gums are then separated from oil
through centrifuge. In this stage, only hydratable gums
are removed.
2. Acid Degumming Process:
For removal of Non-hydratable gums, water
degumming is not suitable and the oil is conditioned
by acid media such as phosphoric acid. The content of
phosphoric acid addition depends on the amount of
gums present as well as the type of oil being refined.
Gums are separated from oil by centrifuge and vacuum
dried at 105 C and cooled, mixed with free fatty acids
or esters to make fluid products. Lecithin , a by
product gum mainly containing choline, is used in
food industries (candies, marshmallows etc.)
Process diagram
Free fatty acid
Free fatty acids (FFA) are derived from triacylglycerol
by cleavage of ester bonds due to the action of lipase,
high temperature, and moisture. Besides the direct
oxidation, lipid hydrolysis is the dominant reason for
the generation of FFA .
FFA can act as pro-oxidants in oils by speed up the
rate of hydroperoxide decomposition. Thus, high FFA
content in the oil may cause further oxidation and lead
to development of offensive taste and flavor in the oil.
Alkali refining
Free fatty acid and residual phosphoric acid are removed by
alkali refining of oil. Free fatty acid forms soap and become
oil insoluble. Presence of free fatty acids cause rancidity in
oil.
Alkali neutralization reduces the content of the following
components: free fatty acids, oxidation products of free
fatty acids, residual proteins, phosphatides, carbohydrates,
traces of metals and a part of the pigments.
Concentration of Alkali
Alkali (NaOH) is added in calculated amount to avoid
refining loss of neutral oil.
% Alkali = % FFA X 0.142 …………….
where FFA (Oleic acid [Link]. 242)
% Alkali = % FFA X 0.142 + % excess alkali
Caustic soda (50 % or more) is stored in tanks and
diluted with water before addition to oil as per
requirement.
For large contact time …………. Low conc. Of alkali
For short contact time……………High conc. Of alkali
Process
The concentrated caustic soda and dilution water are
mixed in a static mixer before being added to the oil. The
oil and caustic are mixed in a horizontal or vertical disc
type contactor. The mixture is held in a holding tank for
certain time period and heated to 74 C. Close control of
temperature is necessary to avoid attack of alkali on neutral
oil. The effluent of is sent to centrifuge for removal of soap
stock.
The separated oil temperature is raised to 88-93 C and
mixed with hot soft water in a static mixer in order to
separate residual soap stock. Oil is again centrifuged for
removal of residual soap stock. The separated soap can be
sent to acidulation (Sulfuric acid is added to regenerate free
fatty acids used for animal feed or in candle making)
Process
Single wash removes about 90 % of soap stock. Oil is
flashed in vacuum dryer to remove moisture and
stored for further treatment.
Alkali refining
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