Degumming Of Vegetable Oils Research Articles

Characterization of novel phospholipase C from Bacillus licheniformis MTCC 7445 and its application in degumming of vegetable oils

A novel microbial phospholipase C (PLC) from Bacillus licheniformis MTCC 7445 was purified to homogeneity by ammonium sulphate fractionation, dialysis, anion exchange chromatography and gel exclusion chromatography. The bacteria growing on vegetable oils secreted significantly high amount of PLC. The enzyme was purified to 23.4-fold with 46% recovery and specific activity 398 U/mg. It exhibited optimum activity at 70°C and pH 10.0. Using diphosphatidylglycerol as substrate the PLC of B. licheniformis MTCC 7445 had a Vmax and Km of 0.68 mM/min and 32 mM, respectively. It hydrolyzed phosphatidylinositol and phosphatidylserine as well as phosphatidylcholine but not other glycerophospholipids. Its activity was enhanced by 113% with Mn2+ and 110% with Mg2+. During degumming of vegetable oils with this enzyme preparation, the phosphorus content of the oil became lower than 4 mg/kg after 5 h of enzyme treatment at 40°C. The novel PLC from B. licheniformis MTCC 7445 is potentially useful for the refining of high quality oils with 95% removal of phospholipids with attractive yield.

Degumming of vegetable oils by a novel phospholipase B from Pseudomonas fluorescens BIT-18

Pseudomonas fluorescens BIT-18 was isolated from soil near a vegetable oil factory and shown to produce a B-type phospholipase. The enzyme was partially purified by ammonium sulfate precipitation. Gas chromatography demonstrated that the enzyme preparation hydrolyzed both the 1- and 2-ester bonds of phosphatidylcholine. When degumming of soybean, rapeseed, and peanut oil was performed with this enzyme preparation, oils with phosphorous contents lower than 5mg/kg were obtained after 5h of enzyme treatment at 40°C. The enzyme preparation did not show lipase activity, thus free fatty acids were only generated from the phospholipids. Therefore, this novel phospholipase B is potentially useful for the refining of high-quality oils with attractive yields.

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.

Evaluation of surfactant‐aided degumming of vegetable oils by membrane technology

AbstractThe first step in the process of vegetable oil refining is degumming, in which phospholipids and mucilaginous gums are removed that otherwise result in a low‐grade oil. A membrane process is remarkably simple yet potentially offers many advantages in degumming. Studies were conducted on surfactant‐aided membrane degumming with soybean and rapeseed oils in a magnetically stirred flat membrane batch cell with different types of microfiltration membranes. The reduction of phospholipids in soybean oil was in the range of 85.8–92.8% during the membrane process. The phosphorus content of membrane permeates of soybean oil was in the range of 20–58 mg/kg. Crude rapeseed oil contained higher amount of nonhydratable phospholipids and hence resulted in lower reduction in phospholipids, in the range of 66.4–83.2%. Addition of hydratable phospholipids could improve the efficiency of degumming in the membrane process without using any electrolyte, resulting in improvement of quality as well as quantity of the phospholipids.