PROCESSING OF EDIBLE

OIL
(PALM OIL)

CHAPTER 3
3.2 : DEGUMMING
Introduction
 Degumming is a process to remove phosphorus
and other complex colloidal compounds that are
present in the crude oil in the form of hydratable
phosphatides and non hydratable phosphatides.
 It consists of the treatment of crude oils with
water, salt solutions, enzymes, caustic soda, or
dilute acids, such as phosphoric, citric, or maleic,
to remove phosphatides, waxes, prooxidants, and
other impurities.
Introduction
 Degumming converts the phosphatides to hydrated
gums, which are insoluble in oil, for separation as a
sludge by settling, filtering, or centrifugal action
 A degumming process is crucial for physical refining,
but optional for chemical refining
 However, with chemical refining, the processor has
the option of removing the phosphatides for their
by-product value as lecithin or treating them as
impurities to be removed along with free fatty acids
during caustic neutralization.
Introduction
 For physical refining, phosphorus must be
reduced to less than 30 ppm with degumming so
that bleaching or dry degumming can further
reduce this level to less than 5 ppm and remove
all traces of iron and copper.
 Theory of Degumming
 Phospholipids are oil-soluble components present in most
edible oil sources.
 They are triglycerides with two fatty acid radicals and one
side chain formed by a phosphate ester.
 Phosphatides consist of polyhydric alcohols esterified with
fatty acids and phosphoric acid, combined with a nitrogen-
containing compound.
 Many of these compounds become insoluble upon hydration
and form a gummy precipitate; hence “gums” is the term
used in the edible oil industry to describe them.
Theory of Degumming
 In the old literature the term “phosphatides” is often used
in reference to phospholipids, and the two terms can be
used interchangeably.
 Phospholipids are key components of cell membranes and
play important roles in the metabolic processes of plants.
 In oilseeds they also form part of the membranes of oil
bodies.
 The major phospholipids of oilseeds are phosphatidyl
choline, phosphatidylethanolamine, phosphatidyl inositol,
and phosphatidic acid.
Theory of Degumming

 Other phospholipids, including phosphatidyl

glycerol, plasmalogen, and diphosphatidyl
glycerol, are also found in oilseeds, but in much
smaller amounts.
 The phospholipid content of crude oils varies
significantly among seed species and even
between different varieties of the same seed.
 The amount of phospholipid in the crude oil is also
influenced by the oil recovery process.
Structure of phospholipids

(cephaline)
(lechitin)
Structure of phospholipids
Methods of Degumming
 There are many different methods of degumming
depending on the type of oil and content of
phosphatides.
 There are 4 methods of degumming:
 Water degumming
 Dry degumming
 Acid degumming
 Membrane degumming
1. Water Degumming
 The purpose of water degumming is to produce an
oil that does not deposit a residue during
transportation and storage.
 The majority of phosphatides (gums) can quickly
and easily be hydrated. In such cases where the
pressed or extracted oil contains a considerable
quantity of gums the oil is subjected to the water
degumming process immediately after ex­traction.
Here a defined quantity of water is admixed with the
oil.
1. Water Degumming
 Approximately 2% water, by oil volume, is
brought into contact with the crude oil by
mechanical agitation in a mix tank.
 The proper amount of water is normally about
75% of the phosphatide content of the oil.
 Too little water produces dark viscous gums and
a hazy oil, while too much water causes excess
oil losses through hydrolysis.
1. Water Degumming
 Complete hydration requires approximately 30
minutes of agitation at 140 to 160°F (60 to 71°C)
for batch processing.
 Temperature is important because degumming is
less complete at higher temperatures due to the
increased solubility of the phosphatides in the oil
 At lower temperatures, the increased oil viscosity
makes separation of the phosphatides more
difficult.
1. Water Degumming
 After a certain reaction time the hydrated
phosphatides are separated off the oil and can be
removed either by decantation (settling) or
continuously by means of centrifuges
 The degummed oil can be vacuum dried and
pumped to degummed oil storage
 The hydrated gums can be vacuum dried for
crude lecithin processing or added back into the
meal
1. Water Degumming
 Water-degummed oil still contains phosphatides, only
the hydratable phosphatides are removed with water
degumming.
 Typically, oils will have an 80- to 200-ppm
phosphatide content after water degumming,
depending on the type and quality of the crude oil.
 The nonhydratable phosphatides, which are the
calcium and magnesium salts of phosphatidic acid and
phosphatidyl ethanolamine, remain in the oil after
water degumming.
1. Water Degumming
 Degumming
 During chemical refining, the free fatty acids are
neutralized by addition of the appropriate quantity of lye.
The resulting so-called ”soapstock” is likewise separated
either by decanting or - continuously - by means of
centrifuges. At this time, the non-hydratable
phosphatides are also separated.
 During physical refining it is possible to reduce the
content of gums by various procedures:
1. Dry acid degumming
2. Wet acid degumming
2. Dry Acid Degumming

 Dry degumming is utilized for oils with low

phosphatide contents, such as palm oil, palm
kernel, coconut, and tallow.
 The oil is treated with an acid to decompose the
metal ion/phosphatide complexes and is then
mixed with bleaching earth.
 Acid, usually 85% phosphoric, is dispersed in 80
to 100°C oil at 0.05 to 1.2% of the oil.
2. Dry Acid Degumming
 After a short reaction time, some water can be
added to enhance bleaching efficiency before 1 to
3% bleaching earth is added and the vacuum
applied.
 The amount of bleaching earth is dependent on
the phosphatide content of the oil.
 The oil is then heated to bleaching temperature
(120 to 140°C) for about 15 minutes and then
cooled below 100°C.
2. Dry Acid Degumming
 The earth containing the degumming acid,
phosphatides, pigments, and other impurities is
then removed by filtration.
 3. Wet Acid Degumming
 Wet acid degumming leads to lower residual
phosphorus content than water degumming.
 The acid is added to liberates the phosphatidic acid and
phosphatidylethanolamine and forms a binding
complex with the calcium and magnesium divalent
metal ions that can be removed with the aqueous phase.
 Phosphoric and citric acids are used because they are
food grade, sufficiently strong, and they bind divalent
metal ions.
3. Wet Acid Degumming

 The oil is heated to 70°C and mixed into the oil.

 A strong solution of citric acid is added as a
degumming acid to decompose the nonhydratable
phosphatides.
 After a reaction period, the mixture is cooled to
below 40°C, and water is added to promote the
dissociation of the liberated free phosphatidic
acid and phosphatidyle thanolamine.
3. Wet Acid Degumming
 These gums are then removed by centrifuge, and
the oil mixture is heated again before being fed to
the centrifugal separator.
 This method is suitable for oil with higher content
of non hydratable gums.
3. Wet Acid Degumming
This method offers some advantages because
 oil qualities with higher contents of non-

hydratable gums (e.g. rapeseed oil and soybean

oil) can be processed without any problems due
to the easy separation of the gums by the
centrifuges,
 reduced bleaching earth consumption resulting

from the fact that the oil has already been pre-
degummed to a large extent.
Degumming
 Dry or wet acid degumming are not always
sufficiently effective with regard to the reduction
of gums in the oil to the content that should be
reached before the combined deodorization and
distillative neutralization process in the course of
physical refining.
 This will be achieved by a special degumming
process we have developed.
4. Membrane Filter Degumming
 Membrane processing has been applied to remove
phospholipids from crude oil without the addition of
an organic solvent
 This method is suitable to efficiently degum
specifically sunflower seed oil, corn germ oil,
rapeseed- and soybean oil but it is also suitable for
other types of oil, which – prior to the final steam
refining - cannot be degummed sufficiently by the
conventional dry or wet acid degumming processes
to the necessary residual gum content
4. Membrane Filter Degumming
 It is also suitable for crude pressed oils as well as
for water-degummed oils obtained by pressing or
extraction.
4. Membrane Filter Degumming
 The basic principle of the process consists of oil
conditioning by means of acid, retention time
under a defined temperature, cooling of the
mixture with addition of caustic soda or another
flocculating agent, further retention time for
reaction of the mixture, heating and subsequent
separation of the gums in a centrifuge as well as
washing of the oil in order to eliminate any
residual gums in a second centrifugal stage.
4. Membrane Filter Degumming
Gum Disposal
 The degumming processes described above lead
unavoidably to by-products or waste products that
have to be disposed of.
 Increase volume of waste for example in water
degumming produce lecithin in soya refining.
 It can be used as animal feed meal content.
Gum Disposal
 Spent bleaching earth resulting from the dry
degumming process can also be disposed by other
ways
 Therefore, energy recovery by burning the spent
earth in a specially designed fluidised sand bed
reactor (Goemans, 2004; 2005) looks like the
most attractive means of disposal
Gum Disposal
 Gums resulting from acid degumming, acid
refining, and other degumming processes should
preferably be disposed of via their respective
meals, but this is only possible if they arise in the
crushing plant.
 If they arise in a refinery, their variable
composition and availability precludes them from
being processed into added value products (De
Kock, 1991) for which no markets exist as yet.