Deacidification of Soybean Oil Combining Solvent Extraction and Membrane Technology

The aim of this work was to study the removal of free fatty acids (FFAs) from soybean oil, combining solvent extraction (liquid-liquid) for the separation of FFAs from the oil and membrane technology to recover the solvent through nanofiltration (NF). Degummed soybean oil containing 1.05 ± 0.10% w/w FFAs was deacidified by extraction with ethanol. Results obtained in the experiences of FFAs extraction from oil show that the optimal operating conditions are the following: 1.8 : 1 w : w ethanol/oil ratio, 30 minutes extraction time and high speed of agitation and 30 minutes repose time after extraction at ambient temperature. As a result of these operations two phases are obtained: deacidified oil phase and ethanol phase (containing the FFAs). The oil from the first extraction is subjected to a second extraction under the same conditions, reducing the FFA concentration in oil to 0.09%. Solvent recovery from the ethanol phase is performed using nanofiltration technology with a commercially available polymeric NF membrane (NF-99-HF, Alfa Laval). From the analysis of the results we can conclude that the optimal operating conditions are pressure of 20 bar and temperature of 35°C, allowing better separation performance: permeate flux of 28.3 L/m2·h and FFA retention of 70%.