Purifine~R PLC: Industrial application in oil degumming and refining

摘要

Plant oils, such as soybean, rapeseed, sunflower, and corn oils, are an important global source of nutrition. They are also widely used as feedstocks for biodiesel production. Crude oil extracted from oilseeds is refined to remove impurities that adversely impact oil stability, color, and flavor. However, each refining step to separate neutral oil triacylglycerols (TAG) and diacylglycerols (DAG) from impurities results in a loss of oil yield proportional to the amount of impurities present. Phospholipids are a major class of impurities removed in conventional processes by oil degumming, at significant cost to oil yield. Phospholipids must be removed because they cause oil darkening (or browning) during the subsequent bleaching, hydrogenating, and deodorizing steps of refining.