A Brief Guide to Chemical refining of Oils & Fats

1. A Brief Guide to Chemical refining of Oils & Fats There are two types of processes involved in refining edible oils and fats i.e. physical and chemical refining. Chemical refining of oils & Fats is used to neutralize the FFA. Apart from this, other undesirable non-glyceride materials also get removed. Some of the materials like oxidized products, iron, copper, insoluble impurities, gums are also removed. The Chemical refining of oils & Fats process can be adapted based on crude oil quality. It will provide excellent final oil quality with acceptable oil losses. Chemical refining of oils & Fats is a traditional method that has been used in past centuries. The purpose of Chemical refining of oils & Fats is to saponify the FFA by an alkaline solution. After this diluting the resulting soaps in a water phase. Chemical refining of oils & Fats can be used for reliably refining virtually all crude oils. Overview of the process An actual Neutralization Process Plant installed is typically running continuously in all processing stages. They are best suitable for Chemical refining of oils & Fats except for castor oil. The batch from Neutralization Process Plant follows the same process steps. Nowadays Neutralization Process Plant operates with two or three stages processes. The three-stage process is mostly used in oils to get higher quality or reduce the loss at the time of the process. The residual soaps are removed by filtration with the help of silica, silicate, cellulose, or bleaching earth. It occurs in single-stage naturalization. Chemical refining of oils & Fats will be treated at the second processing stage and can be omitted based on the oil. It is recommended to degum if seeds are neutralized before processing. It is recommended as crude oils often have high phosphatide content. It will negatively affect the yield too. For trouble-free operation, continuous Chemical refining of oils & Fats cannot be ensured unless the product is clean and dry. In many cases, additional filters are also present to prevent damage to pumps. The also helps in preventing impurities like metering instruments. It is mandatory to measure crude oil after heating. It can be measured with the help of a mass flowmeter.