What types of cooking oil refining method can be selected? Which one is better?

Edible oil refining is a relatively complex and flexible process. On the whole, there are two types of refining methods. The one is chemical refining, the other is physical refining. The main difference between the two types of refining method lies in how the FFA are removed. People maybe confused about how to choose the suitable refining method to produce edible oil. Because they don't know which refining method is better. Don't worry, in this article, I will make a introduction about this two types of cooking oil refining methods. And you can choose the best suitable method according to your requirements.

Recommended reading: What is the difference between physical refining and chemical refining of edible oil?

Chemical refining and physical refining of edible oil

The first refining method is physical refining, the removal of FFA (free fatty acids) occurs during deodorizing process of refining process. Its refining process is degumming, decolorization, deacidification and deodorization.

In degumming process, it mainly uses the hydrophilicity of phospholipids to remove natural gums by adding hot water or food grade phosphoric acid to the crude edible oil. Then, in bleaching process, it mainly uses the activated clay to adsorb the colouring matters or other metal ions under vacuum. While the deacidification and deodorization process is under high temperature and low pressure. By using steam, the FFA can be removed. What's more, the off-flavors and odours can also be removed from the crude edible oil in the steam distillation process.

Chemical refining and physical refining of palm oil

The second refining method is chemical refining, the removal of FFA (free fatty acids) occurs during deacidification process of refining process. The basic refining process is degumming , deacidification, decolorization and deordorization.

1) Degumming process:

We mainly use hydration degumming process to remove gums from crude edible oil with the help of phosphoric acid.

2) Deacidification process:

We mainly use acid-base neutralization method to remove FFA, during this step, we can get soapstock which is the raw material of soap production line.

3) Decolorization process:

Same with physical refining method, the decolorization process of chemical refining is also uses white clay to adsorb unwanted pigments and other metal ions to let the color of edible oil will become much lighter.

4) Deodorization process:

The purpose of deodorization process is to remove unacceptable odors by steam distillation. In the deodorization process, the odoriferous compound are stripped off by injecting steam into heated oil under high vacuum pressure.

Soybean oil chemmical refining process

Hoping this article can help you have a brief understanding of chemical refining and physical refining. As for which types of refining methods is more suitable for you, you need to decide based on the characteristics of your raw materials and the final product you want to get. You only need to tell us your specific requirements, that our engineers will provide you many useful information about your edible oil refinery plant projects.