Kinetic models for degumming and bleaching of phospholipids from crude palm oil using citric acid and Super Flo B80® and Tonsil

• Published in: Food and bioproducts processing Vol. 129; pp. 75 - 83
• Main Authors: Serrano-Bermúdez, Luis Miguel, Monroy-Peña, Camilo Antonio, Moreno, Darío, Abril, Andrés, Imbachi Niño, Anderson D., Martínez Riascos, Carlos Arturo, Buitrago Hurtado, Gustavo, Narváez Rincón, Paulo Cesar
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Rugby Elsevier B.V 01.09.2021; Elsevier Science Ltd
• Subjects: Aqueous solutions; Biodiesel; Bleaching; Bleaching earth; Citric acid; Crude palm oil; Degummed palm oil; Degumming; Kinetic model; Kinetics; Mathematical models; Mathematical optimization; Oil; Palm oil; Petroleum refining; Phosphatides; Phospholipids; Phosphorus; Phosphorus removal; Pigments; Product specifications; Refined palm oil; Removal; Specifications; Statistical analysis; Statistical models; Storage; Tonsil; Vegetable oils; Kinetic model; Refined palm oil; Crude palm oil; Phosphatides; Degummed palm oil; Biodiesel; Mathematical optimization
• ISSN: 0960-3085; 1744-3571
• DOI: 10.1016/j.fbp.2021.07.005

[Display omitted] •Crude palm oil was properly degummed and bleached with citric acid and active earths.•A first-order kinetic model predicted accurately the degumming of phosphatides.•First-order kinetic models adjusted phosphatides removal using two bleaching earths.•The degumming model predicted a citric acid dose of 0.015% to reduce phosphatides.•The predicted minimum required dose of earth to reduce phosphorous content is 0.05%. Degumming and bleaching stages of vegetable oil refining processes are required to achieve the phosphorus content specification (≤10 mg/kg) reducing gums deposit during storage. Studies of degumming stage using citric acid are focused on statistical models, while studies of bleaching stage are focused on pigment removal. Therefore, the availability of kinetic models is limited. The purpose of this study was to propose kinetic models for phosphatides removal from crude palm oil during both degumming and bleaching stages. During degumming, the effects of the ratio citric acid to crude palm oil (0.0237, 0.077, 0.25, 0.55, and 0.85 wt%) and the citric acid concentration in the aqueous solution added to the crude palm oil (15, 30, and 45 wt%) both on phosphorus removal were studied. For bleaching, phosphorus removal was assessed changing the dose (0.25, 0.45, and 0.65 wt%) of two adsorbent earths (SuperFlo B80® and Tonsil®). The best fit with experimental data was obtained using reversible first-order kinetic models for both degumming and bleaching stages. Prediction using the models presented in this work suggests that the citric acid and bleaching earth doses of 0.015 wt% and 0.047 wt%, respectively, are enough to reduce the phosphorus content from 35 ppm to product specification in 30 min contact time in each stage.