Abstract
Studies were conducted with expeller-pressed groundnut and sunflower oils in a magnetically stirred flat membrane batch cell with five different types of non-porous polymeric composite membranes, to improve the oil quality. The phospholipid contents of membrane permeates of groundnut and sunflower oils were lower than 360 mg kg −1. The maximum reductions in Lovibond yellow and red color values were 75.6 and 50% in groundnut oil, and 77.9 and 77.8% in sunflower oil, respectively. The oxidation products were rejected to the extent of 26.5–40.3%. There was an increase in tocopherol content in permeates to the extent of 34–72.2% due to preferential permeation. Negative rejection of free fatty acids (FFA) resulted in a small increase in FFA content in permeates. The results suggest that the membrane process can be used as a single-step process for the production of premium quality edible oil. However, permeate flux needs to be improved for industrial adoption.
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