Why does the palm oil refining process include degumming, deacidification, deodorization and decolorization?

The main purposes of palm oil refining process is to remove harmful impurities, undesirable odor, flavor, and color in crude palm oil through degumming, deacidification, decolorization and deodorization process, so that we can obtain pure and relatively non-impurities of high-quality edible oil. Next, I will briefly the reasons and specific practices of each palm oil refining steps helping everyone to get familiar with the whole progress.

Four steps of palm oil refining progress

1. Degumming

Reason: Crude palm oil contains various impurities,like, gum, which will affect the quality and stability of the oil, as well as the subsequent sections of palm oil refining, which need to be removed by degumming.

Specific practice: Generally, crude palm oil has less gum, and can be degummed by dry method, that is, adding phosphoric acid solution to crude palm oil in order to make peptized impurities into agglomerates, and the peptized impurities can be removed after sedimentation.

2. Deacidification

Reason: Deacidification aims to remove free fatty acids in crude palm oil to avoid oil rancidity and improve the stability of palm oil.

Specific practice: Palm oil batch refining equipment generally uses chemical deacidification to remove free fatty acids, which is to add lye to crude palm oil to neutralize it with free fatty acids. The soap would be formed after neutralizing, which be removed after edimentation, thereby the free fatty acids is removed.

3. Decolorization

Reason: The purpose of decolorization is to remove the pigment in crude palm oil, so that the color of palm oil is clearer.

Specific practice:The specific operation process of decolorization is to add clay to crude palm oil to absorb pigments and other impurities in the oil, and then use the leaf filter to filter out the waste clay in the oil.

Tips: The feeding amount of white clay can be controlled according to the needs of customers, so that the color of palm oil can reach the standard.

4. Deodorization

Reason: Crude palm oil has an odor, which affects the flavor and value of edible palm oil and needs to be removed by deodorization.

Specific practice: Deodorization is to inject direct steam into crude palm oil, and take advantage of the difference in volatility between oil and odorous substances to take away odors. After deodorization, the quality of palm oil is improved, and the smoke point and stability are also improved.

[ Related reading: Palm oil refining machine types and their characteristics ]

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