Soybean Oil Refining

Soybean Oil Refining

KMEC's line of soybean oil refining process systems are specially designed to produce an odorless, bland, and stable oil with the appropriate color for a wide variety of cooking and baking applications. From low-cost production of bulk commodity salad and cooking oils to development of the most sophisticated designer-type oils and fats system, KMEC provides the processor with the latest technology and lowest operation costs for your soybean oil plant.

The crude oil extracted from soybeans needs further treatment to convert it to a bland, stable, nutritious product that is used in the manufacture of margarine, shortening, salad and cooking oil, mayonnaise, food products, oleochemicals.

Several processes may be used to produce an edible oil. We will deal mainly with the caustic refining process, the most widely used and probably the most reliable to produce a good quality oil.

Crude oil is normally defined in terms of moisture and dirt, phosphatide content normally expressed as ppm phosphorus, free fatty acids (FFA) or acid value and also in terms of color, oxidation characteristics, and trace components such as iron and copper.

Soybean Oil Refining Process

The crude soybean oil still contains many oil-insoluble and oil-soluble impurities that needs to  be  removed. The oil-insoluble material are removed  with  filtration and the soluble materials is removed with different processes including degumming (removing of phosphatides), alkali refining (washing with alkaline solution to remove free fatty acids, colorants, insoluble matter and gums) and bleaching (with activated earth or activated carbon to remove colour and other impurities.

Soybean oil is also used by the food industry in a variety of food products including salad dressings, sandwich spreads, margarine, bread, mayonnaise, non-dairy coffee creamers and snack foods. Soybean oil is not only used in food products but is also used as renewable raw material to produce a variety of non-food products including bio diesel, inks, plasticizers, crayons, paints and soy candles etc.