Degumming of vegetable oil by microporous membrane

Degumming of soybean oil was studied in this work using ultrafiltration membrane prepared from polyethersulphone (PES). Crude desolventized oils were used as well as oil/hexane miscella in a 1:3 proportion. Besides the phospholipids content in the crude and ultrafiltered oil, other parameters such as viscosity, color, free fatty acids (FFAs) and tocopherols content were also analyzed. As expected, the desolventized oil presented a lower permeate flux due to its greater viscosity compared to the oil/hexane miscella. The removal of up to 89% of phospholipids was reached when the miscella was ultrafiltered. Significant changes were observed in any of the studied parameters such as color and FFAs. The scanning electron microscopy (SEM) has been used to analyze the PES membrane, before and after contact with hexane for 72 h at 50 °C. No morphological and functional modifications were observed. The process has shown itself as an alternative to the conventional degumming process used nowadays.