Degumming
The purpose of degumming is to remove phospholipids or gums from the crude oil. Oils high in phosphorus, such as soybean, corn and sunflower may be degummed to refining.
Neutralization
Caustic refining, in particular, does not only effectively perform the separation functions described above but is considered ‘more forgiving’ in operation than alternate physical methods.
Bleaching
Bleaching is the term given to describe the adsorptive cleansing process associated with edible oil refining. This process may involve acid pretreatment, introduction of and a retention period with a bleaching agent and removal of the clay and absorbed materials.
Winterization
Winterization is a thermo-mechanical process in which solids are crystallized under controlled temperature conditions. The next stage is their mechanical separation. The process is used for oils that produce turbidity in less temperatures, such as cotton and sunflower oil.
Deodorization
The deodorization process of the last stage of chemical refining is carried out to remove undesirable taste and odour of the oil from the oil under high temperature and low pressure and by the effect of water vapour.
