Physical refining

By reviewing current commercial physical refining processes a prospectus is suggested for the future objectives in this field of edible oil processing. The paper reviews widely used physical refining processes for the relatively high free fatty acid (FFA) laurics and palm oil and a commercial operation for physical refining of maize and sunflower oils. In addition, the relatively new departure of physical refining of soybean oil is discussed using data from recent development work. This system is used to demonstrate present trends in the development sector of the industry. Reference to similar work on pretreatment of rapeseed oil is included. The discussion is used to suggest guidelines for design of a flexible physical refining system for application to major oils processed by European refiners. There is still no physical refining process that can handle successfully on a commercial scale all qualities of soybean oil. We must envisage a system of physical refining that is able to deal with the most difficult soybean oil and thus assume it will handle all the less difficult oils.