Degumming of vegetable oil by membrane technology

529-534Conventional method of degumming of crude vegetable oil, which involves the treatment of oil with steam followed by acid, is associated with many drawbacks, such as loss of oil, generation of wash waters, poor quality of degummed oil, etc. These drawbacks can be eliminated by the use of membrane technology being energy efficient, ecofriendly, and simple in operation. In order to explore the possibilities of utilizing membrane based separation process for the degumming of crude vegetable oil, this study has been conducted. The findings of the study indicate that membranes can remove phospholipids approximately 90% and above from castor oil, salicorniaseed oil and cottonseed oil. The permeability of membrane depends on the pressure applied. Ultrafiltration membranes exhibit higher permeability comparative to nanofiltration membrane. In addition to removal of phospholipids, membranes can simultaneously remove colour approximately 80% from the oil.