Vegetable oil degumming using inorganic membranes

MARENCHINO, RENATA; PAGLIERO CECILIA; MATTEA MIGUEL

DESALINATION

ELSEVIER SCIENCE BV

Lugar: Amsterdam; Año: 2006 vol. 200 p. 562 - 564

0011-9164

The removal of phospholipids (?degumming?) is one of the steps involved in the process to obtain edible vegetable oils. Membrane separation has been proposed as an alternative to the conventional procedure (water degumming) but problems related to the stability of polymeric membranes in contact with the oil extraction solvent (n-hexane), have delayed the application of this technique at industrial scale [1]. In comparison, inorganic membranes are more stable chemically and can tolerate higher temperatures than polymeric based membranes, making them a promising candidate for this application. In this work, a tubular inorganic membrane made of ZrO2 was used to treat a crude soybean oil?hexane miscella in a lab scale ultrafiltration module. The membrane permselectivity towards phospholipids is assessed by degumming experiments at different pressures and temperatures. Also, the permeate flux of pure solvent against time is determined and explained in terms of basic interactions between solvent constituents and membrane structure.