Degumming of rice bran oil

Abstract

Rice bran oil (RBO) is an excellent cooking and salad oil due to its high smoke point and delicate flavor. The nutritional qualities and health effects of RBO are also established. The content of phospholipids in crude RBO is a major problem during processing of the oil in various food applications. It has been reported that water degumming process is suitable for the removal of hydrat- able phospholipids (HPL). Nonhydratable phospholipids (NHPL) can be removed only during acid degumming or enzymatic degumming processes. Rapid equilibrium extraction has been found suitable for reducing the phos- pholipid content of RBO. Many researchers have found the efficiency of water, acid, and enzymatic degumming of RBO. New techniques of degumming for RBO have also been established using ultrafiltration and nanofiltration membranes. The presented techniques are individually significant based on phospholipids efficiency. Hence, the present paper reviews the prevailing techniques of RBO degumming.