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Refining of edible oils: A critical appraisal of current and potential

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DOI: 10.1111/ijfs.12657

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International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015, 50, 13–23 13

Review
Refining of edible oils: a critical appraisal of current and potential
technologies

Chandrasekar Vaisali, Sampath Charanyaa, Prasanna D. Belur* & I. Regupathi

Department of Chemical Engineering, National Institute of Technology Karnataka, Surathkal, Srinivasnagar, Mangalore 575 025, India

(Received 28 April 2014; Accepted in revised form 5 August 2014)

Summary The major sources of dietary lipids are edible oils, which include both vegetable and fish oils. Crude oil
extracted from vegetable and fish sources contain mono-, di-, triacylglycerols along with impurities, which
necessitates refining. The main objective of refining is to remove the contaminants that adversely affect
the quality of oil, thereby reducing the shelf life and consumer acceptance. However, this refining process
needs to be tailored as the composition of crude oil is highly variable, depending upon the plant/fish spe-
cies, geographical location of the source and method of oil extraction. Recently, extensive efforts have
been made to develop refining technology, using either conventional physical/chemical processes or several
unconventional processes including biological and membrane processes. The first section of this review
gives a brief description of general composition of some commonly used vegetable and fish oils, followed
by the review of various refining methods and their effects on the oil constituents. Finally, an effort is
made to understand the technological gaps in the existing methods and possible directions of research to
overcome the said gaps.
Keywords Bleaching, deacidification, degumming, deodorisation, edible oil, fish oil, n-3 polyunsaturated fatty acids, refining.

acid (EPA) and docosahexanoic acid (DHA) per day

Introduction
Among carbohydrates, proteins and lipids which are
available through food to humans, lipids are the most
concentrated source of metabolic energy. The type of
fat consumed plays a major role in the health of an
individual as higher intakes of trans and saturated fats
are known to have adverse effects, viz. promote insulin
resistance, inflammation and increase in LDL
(low-density lipoprotein) cholesterol, develop risk of
diabetes and cardiac death (Mozaffarian et al., 2006;
Bendsen et al., 2011). The ill effects of trans-fats have
been proved unlike saturated fats. A systematic review
and meta-analysis on the association of coronary dis-
eases and fatty acids carried out by Chowdhury et al.
(2014) concludes that there is no clear evidence to
claim that intake of saturated fats cause cardiovascular
diseases. The beneficial applications of essential fatty
acids like unsaturated fatty acids on human health
have increased the market and market value for the
edible oils (FAO/WHO consultation 2011). It has been
proposed that an intake of 0.25 to 1.8 g of n-3 polyun-
saturated fatty acids (PUFA), such as eicosapentanoic
*Correspondent: Fax: +91 824 2474033;
e-mail: prsnbhat@gmail.com
in the form of fatty fish or its supplements is adequate
to elicit desirable benefits such as reducing platelet
aggregation and lowering plasma triglycerides (Gogus
& Smith, 2010).
Vegetable oils and animal fats (meat, pork etc.) are
the major source of dietary lipids. According to Uni-
ted States Department of Agricultural (USDA), the
total oil production has increased from 140 million
metric tons in 2010–161 million metric tonnes in 2013
to meet the demand. Palm, olive, soybean, sunflower,
coconut, corn, cottonseed and peanut are some of the
oils of vegetable origin that are most widely used,
while body oils and liver oils from aquatic organisms
contribute to edible oil of marine origin (FAO). The
domestic use of fish oils is yet to be practised world-
wide as there is no commercially viable production
technology available to produce edible fish oil without
losing n-3 PUFA and other valuable components.
Hence, there is an ongoing effort to develop refining
technology for every variety of edible oils (vegetable/
fish) so as to produce nutritionally rich, colourless,
odour less, neutral and bland tasting oil.
The available reports on edible oil refining are
mostly focused on oil processing with reduced oil loss
(De & Bhattacharyya, 1999; Mag, 2007; Dijkstra,

doi:10.1111/ijfs.12657
© 2014 Institute of Food Science and Technology
14 Refining of edible oils C. Vaisali et al.
2009, 2010). As it is mandatory to know the composi-
tion of oil before designing a refining process, this
review gives a brief description on the general compo-
sition of oil and highlighting the difference between
fish and vegetable oils. This review further describes
alternative approaches for the most crucial refining
process, viz. degumming and deacidification tried by
various researchers along with their merits and demer-
its. Finally, the effects of these processes on the oil
quality have also been discussed, providing an insight
in making a choice of effective method specific for
particular oil.
General composition of edible oil
The composition of fats and oil differs greatly based
on the species, strain, environmental conditions and
also the extraction procedure used. Before 19th cen-
tury, many oils were used without refining which
included olive, lard, tallow, linseed and certain cold
pressed oil (Dijkstra, 2013). After the advent of solvent
extraction, many seed oils are extracted by this tech-
nique while boiling and expression methods are used
for fish oil extraction (Bhosle & Subramanian, 2005).
The oil processing industry is a large scale operation,
using bulk raw material from different seasons and
with varying freshness and composition and thus con-
tains essential components along with impurities, such
as free fatty acids (FFA), phospholipids and volatile
compounds (Table 1).
Essential components
Acylglycerols (mono-, di-, triglycerides) contribute to
the major portion of fats and oils (Table S1) with high
nutritional significance (Sun et al., 2002). The fatty
acids shown in Fig. S1 are some of the essential fatty
acids that play a vital role in different stages of ana-
bolic and catabolic reactions in human body. n-3
PUFA are chemically reactive, having low stability to
heat, light, atmospheric oxygen and impurities, posing
oxidation problems during storage (Chaiyasit et al.,
2007). Thus, the major challenge for the refining pro-
Table 1 General composition of edible oils and their overall effect on oil quality
Quantity
Type of components in oil Character Crude
Acylglycerols Desirable 90%
Tocopherols, squalence, sterols Desirable 200–800 ppm
Phospholipids Undesirable 100–500 ppm
Free fatty acids Undesirable 5–20%
Metal ions and metal complexes Undesirable 2–15 mg kg
Oxidised products Undesirable 2–6 meq kg
Moisture Undesirable 1–3%
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015
cess is to retain n-3 PUFA, while eliminating other
undesirable components of raw oil.
The difference between fish oil and vegetable oil that
has significant effect on choice of refining strategy is
the fatty acid profile. In fish oil, the major unsaturated
fatty acids belong to the n-3 family (EPA 20:5 n-3 and
DHA 22:6 n-3) having nutritional and medical signifi-
cance. While EPA and DHA are readily available in
fish oil (Table S1), vegetable oils posses alpha lenolen-
ic acid (Table S2) that act as precursors for EPA and
DHA synthesis in human body (Davis & Etherton,
2003). While fish oils have overtaken vegetable oils in
their commercial importance, vegetable oils are still
widely used due to their various attributes, viz. appear-
ance, taste, smell, cultural preference and ease of pro-
duction. Also, the oxidative and thermo stability of
highly unsaturated compounds restricts use of certain
harsh refining processes that are widely used
industrially.
The nonfatty components of oil contribute to the
unsaponifiable matter. The unsaponifiable matter con-
stitutes up to 1–10% of vegetable oil and in some fish
liver oil it is found in higher quantities (Channon,
1928). This unsaponifiable portion of oil is made up
of many components, such as tocopherols, phytoster-
ols, polyphenols and carotenoids in case of vegetable
oil and compounds, such as squalene, tocopherols,
fatty alcohols and sterols in fish oil (Channon, 1928;
Ghazani & Marangoni, 2013). The presence of these
components have beneficiary effects, hence the choice
of refining process should ensure minimal loss of
these components.
Undesirable compounds
FFA are derived from lipids by cleavage of ester
bonds due to enzyme (lipase) action, heat and mois-
ture (Akoh & Min, 2002), which happens after the
harvesting of raw material for oil extraction. FFA in
oils can act as pro-oxidants which initiate the oxida-
tion mechanism in lipids and also decrease the smoke
point of cooking oils. Chaiyasit et al. (2007) has criti-
cally reviewed the effect of interaction of FFA with
Refined Effect on oil quality
>99% Improve
50–300 ppm Improve oxidative stability
<10 ppm Settling at bottom during storage
<1% Act as pro-oxidant leading to oxidation of acylglycerols
1
<1 mg kg 1 Harmful for consumption and act as pro-oxidant
1
<1 meq kg 1 Rancidity and harmful
<1% Act as pro-oxidant
© 2014 Institute of Food Science and Technology
 Refining of edible oils C. Vaisali et al. 15

Degumming Deacidification Bleaching Deodorization

Enzymatic Activated
Physical Biological adsorbents
Membrane Adsorption
Natural
Solvent
Alkali adsorbents Steam
Chemical Extraction
1. Water stripping
2. Acid Re-esterification Membranes
3. Soft degumming 1. Chemical 1. Coupled with solvent extraction
Figure 1 Overview of existing and potential
4. Total Degumming 2. Enzymatic 2. Coupled with supercritical fluid extraction
technologies for edible oil refining.

other components and the mechanism of oxidation has
also been discussed. As evident from Fig. S1, the
essential fatty acids mostly contain double bonds and
are particularly more susceptible for free radical
attack, which eventually lead to rancidity. FFA con-
tent is one of the most important factors that influ-
ences overall quality of oil and hence the price.
Phospholipids are a class of lipids that are major
constituents of the cell membrane hence found in high
concentrations (30–50% w/w) in vegetable oils due to
the thick cell wall of plant cells (De & Bhattacharyya,
1999). These components are extracted into the oil
along with other essential components. Phospholipid
rich oil when exposed to air or sunshine, leads to col-
our deepening and oxidative rancidity which in turn
hinders the distillation and deodorisation during oil
refining (Dijkstra, 2009). This makes the removal of
phospholipids imperative during the refining stage.
Along with these major contaminants, minor compo-
nents, such as metal ions, volatile matter should also
be removed effectively so as to ensure edible quality of
oil.
Edible oil refining
The production of oils and fats from vegetable and
marine sources with a bland and neutral taste even
after several months of storage, while retaining their
nutritionally important constituents is the challenge,
every edible oil industry faces today. To achieve such
characteristics, detrimental and flavour producing
compounds have to be removed, while retaining some
of the most desirable components. Many unit opera-
tions serve this purpose, with sedimentation being one
of the simplest. However, it is seldom used in indus-
tries as it is a batch process that takes longer duration
and speeds up the oxidation process. There is also a
possibility of sedimentation of desirable components,
reducing the oil quality (Botha et al., 2000). Hence,
the refining process has to be designed in such a way
that the undesirable compounds are eliminated, mini-
mising oil loss and maximising the availability of bene-
ficial constituents. A schematic representation of the
various available refining strategies is provided in
Fig. 1.

Table 2 Efficiency of different deacidification processes and their limitations

Initial FFA Final FFA

Methods (%) (%) Limitation Authors

Alkali neutralisation 15.7 0.09 High loss of neutral oil Wang et al. (2001)
Physical refining 2.75 <0.1 Stringent pretreatment requirements Martinello et al. (2007)
Re-esterification
1. Chemical 37.6 1.50 Random and costly Ebewele et al. (2010)
2. Enzymatic 30.0 3.50 High cost of enzyme Bhattacharya & Bhattacharyya
(1989)
Biological refining na na Short chain fatty acid not utilised Cho et al. (1990)
Solvent extraction 16.5 0.33 Incomplete deacidification and high capital Kale et al. (1999)
cost
Supercritical fluid 37.7 7.80 Costly Turkey et al. (1996)
extraction
Membrane Technology na na Molecular weight difference is too low for Bhosle & Subramanian (2005)
effective separation

© 2014 Institute of Food Science and Technology International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015
16 Refining of edible oils C. Vaisali et al.
Degumming
Degumming is the initial step in edible oil refining
which removes phospholipids and some portion of
trace metals along with mucilaginous substances. It is
crucial as it determines the stability of the oils during
storage. The phospholipid content should be suffi-
ciently low as they are more prone to hydrolysis than
acylglycerols (Koning & Evans, 1991). Hence, removal
of phospholipids followed by FFA removal becomes
the logical choice of refining stages.
Chemical treatments
The most widely used degumming method in industry
today is water degumming followed by acid treatment
(Dijkstra & Opstal, 1987). Water treatment ensures the
removal of hydratable phospholipids, while treatment
with acid works on the nonhydratable phospholipids
(Dijkstra & Opstal, 1987; Mei et al., 2013). While
there is significant loss of acylglycerols by this method,
this degumming process is still followed due to the use
of cheap chemicals, profitable disposability of gums
and market acceptability of oil quality (Dijkstra &
Opstal, 1987; De & Patel, 2010; De Greyt, 2012). Fur-
thermore, a Total Degumming Process (TOP) was
introduced where neutralisation of acid using an alkali
is done to avoid migration of phospholipids back into
oil (Zufarov et al., 2008). However, increased oil losses
made TOP less attractive to oil mills in contrast to
bio-diesel plants, which still uses this method (Dijk-
stra, 2009). As chemicals like EDTA have the ability
to chelate metal ions, they were effectively used for oil
degumming by a process called soft degumming (Cho-
ukri et al., 2001). Although this process could be effec-
tively used for degumming as long as the initial
phosphatide contents are low, the use of chelators like
EDTA raised acceptability issues (Dijkstra, 2013).
With increasing knowledge on the inevitability of
degumming process many novel process were intro-
duced, including use of mono-ethanolamines (Zufarov
et al., 2009) and mechanical methods which applies
ultrahigh shearing and mixing operations (Myong
et al., 2008). However, very few oil mills use these pro-
cesses industrially as they are costly and the loss of
neutral oil is high (Dijkstra, 2009). The efficiency of
any chemical process discussed above depends on the
nature and quantity of phosphatides in oil (Dijkstra,
2013). Hence, a careful analysis of oil prior to refining
will help in choosing the best route of refining.
Enzymatic degumming
The first enzymatic process launched in 1992, by using
porcine enzyme (PLA2) was considered unethical.
Hence, alternate enzymes of microbial sources were
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015
continuously searched for and used (Clausen, 2001).
Enzymatic degumming has gained importance recently
as it is highly effective and involves milder reaction
conditions compared to chemical processes (Mei et al.,
2013). It catalyses the conversion of phospholipids to
diacylglycerols which provides a relatively good yield
of oil compared to conventional processes (Dijkstra,
2010). According to Dijkstra (2010), enzymes are inca-
pable of catalysing the hydrolysis of nonhydratable
phospholipids at an industrial scale, and hence the
process has to be combined with other chemical treat-
ments. Despite being highly advantageous, enzymatic
degumming was never practised in commercial scale
due to the high cost of enzymes. These drawbacks led
to the search for techniques which are cost effective
with mild operating conditions.
However, there is a renewed interest in enzymatic
process in recent years due to the availability of differ-
ent commercial and cost effective enzymes. Steady pro-
gress made in the area of enzyme engineering and
technology in the discovery and development of rele-
vant enzymes is also encouraging researchers to focus
upon enzymatic process (De Greyt, 2012). Continuous
attempts are being made to optimise the process
parameters for maximum hydrolysis so that industrial
standards can also be achieved (Jahani et al., 2008;
Jiang et al., 2011; Liu et al., 2012). Dayton et al.
(2011), documented that phosphatidylinositol specific
phospholipase C (PI-PLC) with thermostability and
fatty acid specificity has been disclosed along with
methods for using them. The thermo stable property
of PI-PLC led to its commercial significance and meth-
ods were developed to make the process feasible at the
industrial level by use of immobilisation techniques
(Zhau et al., 2012).
Researchers also probed the possibilities of
decreasing the reaction time and increasing the effi-
ciency of degumming by using recombinant enzymes
or different combinations of enzymes at high temper-
atures (Bo et al., 2012 and Dayton et al., 2013; Hu-
ang et al. 2014). Jiang et al. (2014) studied the effect
of ultrasound on the enzymatic degumming and
found that even the residual phospholipids can be
reduced to <10 ppm. But the major disadvantage
was the oxidative instability of the oil after process-
ing. This recent interest in enzymatic process and
the attempts to perfect it can pave the way to a
potential industrial process of degumming involving
milder conditions.
Membrane degumming
Another alternative degumming method that has been
given much importance is the use of membrane tech-
nology. Degumming with membranes is an efficient
process as it minimises the number of steps, energy
© 2014 Institute of Food Science and Technology

consumption and involves nonadditions of chemicals.
Hydraulic pressure acts as the driving force for perme-
ation in a membrane process and the nature of the
membranes determines the components to be rejected
(Subramanian et al., 2001). The separation of
triacylglycerols (900 Da) from phospholipids (800 Da)
by ultrafiltration poses difficulties due to the small dif-
ference in their molecular weights (Subramanian et al.,
2004). This was overcome as the phospholipids tend to
form reverse micelles in nonpolar media (Hancer et al.,
2002; Ribeiro et al., 2008). This process is highly effec-
tive as the micelle formed imprisons certain amount of
pigments and free fatty acids (Coutinho et al., 2009).
The membrane efficiency is characterised by the per-
meate flux and phospholipid rejection (Table S3). The
only variable that has any effect over these factors is
the transmembrane pressure (Gracia et al., 2006a,b;
Ribeiro et al., 2008). Membrane process for degum-
ming can be carried out with both solvent/oil micelle
(Lin et al., 1990; Ribeiro et al., 2008) or with crude
oil alone (Pioch et al., 1998; Manjula & Subramanian,
2009). The major problem in this process is the poor
flux as seen in Table S3, in solvent free conditions and
the instability of membranes while degumming micelle.
Although micelle degumming was industrially prac-
tised for a brief period of time, it was soon abandoned
due to membrane fouling (De Greyt, 2012). The differ-
ent polymeric composite membranes and their effi-
ciency in removing undesirable compounds from
vegetable oil have been reviewed by Subramanian
et al. (2004) based on which a pilot plant study on the
degumming of rice bran oil was carried out (Subrah-
manyam et al., 2006). In a review by Cmolik & Pok-
orny, 2000, authors have extensively analysed the
various degumming process and concluded that use of
selective membranes poses more advantages in lab
scale process than conventional techniques which are
costly processes. Even with the availability of reason-
able knowledge on the parameters affecting the effi-
ciency of membrane process (Micro filtration/Ultra
filtration), optimised membrane processes for different
oils and the correlation between the components of oil
and membrane performance are still unavailable.
Hence, there is a need for the development of opti-
mised robust membrane process for each kind of oil
to realise the potential of membrane process for oil
refining at commercial scale.
The effect of degumming on the essential compo-
nents of vegetable oil has been studied by many
researchers (Gracia et al., 2006a,b; Naz et al., 2011;
Bauer et al., 2012). All these works report a high
reduction in the tocopherols of vegetable oil by chemi-
cal degumming process while membrane processes also
give negative retention (25%) of tocopherols and car-
otenoids (Subramanian et al., 2004; Coutinho et al.,
2009).
© 2014 Institute of Food Science and Technology
Refining of edible oils C. Vaisali et al. 17
Deacidification
Deacidification is a crucial step as the presence of
FFA results in the development of rancid flavour and
speeds up oxidation process (Chaiyasit et al., 2007).
Similar to degumming, many deacidification proce-
dures have been proposed for industrial oil refining
(Bhosle & Subramanian, 2005). It is evident from our
description of the composition of fish and vegetable
oils that fish oil contains a higher degree of unsatu-
rated fatty acid content leading to high FFA content.
Hence, this step is more relevant and critical for fish
oil refining in comparison with vegetable oils.
Conventional alkali treatment
In conventional deacidification, alkali like sodium
hydroxide is added to the degummed oil, thereby pre-
cipitating FFA as soap stocks which are removed by
centrifugation or water washing (Bhosle & Subramani-
an, 2005). Despite the fact that oil loss is more and
the wastewater generated is difficult to treat in such
processes, it is still widely used in industries as it gives
refined oil of acceptable quality. Nevertheless, there is
a serious interest in new approaches that will make
chemical refining more efficient and attractive (De
Greyt, 2012). Tang et al., 2013 modified the process
by making use of perforated distribution plates to
increase the contact of FFA with alkali thus reducing
the oil loss. De & Patel (2011) investigated a modified
alkali treatment, where calcium hydroxide was used at
high temperature and low pressure resulting in FFA
reduction to 0.8% in 2 h. A recent advancement in the
field of alkali treatment is the use of so-called nano-
reactors. These are basically hydrodynamic cavitation
reactors, through which oil to be treated along with
alkali is passed under high pressure 40–80 bar. The
combined effect of high pressure and unique design of
reactor creates strong shear forces providing efficient
neutralisation (De Greyt, 2012). The process is claimed
to be advantageous as there is a significant reduction
in the use of acid (90%) and caustic soda (over 30%).
Despite the fact that Alkali treatment employing
nano-reactors was found to be efficient, it failed to get
acceptance by industry due to high energy require-
ments and applicability to only batch process (De
Greyt, 2012).
Physical deacidification
In physical refining, removal of FFA and odour giving
compounds takes place in a single operation due to
the difference in the volatility of different components
(Sampaio et al., 2011). Deacidification is achieved by
heating oil to desired temperature under vacuum fol-
lowed by the passage of steam which removes the free
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015
18 Refining of edible oils C. Vaisali et al.
fatty acids. The variables that have major effect on this
process are the temperature and steam flow rate
(Cvengros, 1995; Martinello et al., 2007; Sampaio
et al., 2011). Steam distillation is the only practical
method that is practised industrially nowadays, and is
always integrated with efficient degumming and
bleaching (Cmolik & Pokorny, 2000). Nevertheless the
high temperature employed in the process is undesir-
able, as unsaturated fatty acids tend to undergo degra-
dation reactions like cyclisation, isomerisation and
polymerisation (Fournier et al., 2007). Hence, this pro-
cess is still followed industrially for low unsaturated
oil like palm oil refining (Cmolik & Pokorny, 2000).
To overcome this drawback, molecular distillation
(low pressure) or short path distillation (low residence
time) were used for thermally unstable compounds
(Cvengros, 1995). The physical deacidification process
is more advantageous compared to alkali refining as it
gives better product yield. The increased energy con-
sumption of the above process makes it less favour-
able. Moreover, subjecting oil to high temperature
under reduced pressure generates secondary reactions
which ultimately alter the physicochemical characteris-
tics and organoleptic properties (Sengupta &
Bhattacharyya, 1992). These disadvantages in the
conventional refining process made scope for the
search for new processes which are discussed further.
Re-esterification
Re-esterification is a process in which free fatty acids
are converted to neutral glycerides by esterification reac-
tion. This is one highly recommended method for
deacidification of oil as there is an increase in the neutral
oil. The re-esterification reaction takes place at high
temperatures (200–280 °C) between glycerol and excess
fatty acids, releases water which has to be removed
(Bhattacharyya & Bhattacharyya, 1989; De & Bhatta-
charyya, 1999). Chemical catalysts, such as zinc dust,
zinc chloride, 0.5% of naphthalein-beta-sulphonic acid
are usually used to speed up the reaction (Ebewele et al.,
2010 and Kombe et al., 2013). While the process is tech-
nically feasible, it is not practiced in industry due to the
high reaction temperature and the need for large quanti-
ties of glycerol. Furthermore, usage of chemical catalyst
raises safety concerns of the produced oil.
In need of low reaction conditions, enzymatic re-
esterification has been exploited as an alternative
approach for chemical re-esterification. The potential
of enzymatic re-esterification depends on different pro-
cess parameters, such as glycerol concentration,
enzyme concentration, reaction time, reaction tempera-
ture and moisture content in the reaction mixture
(Sengupta & Bhattacharyya, 1992; Rosu et al., 1999).
But the high cost of enzymes is a drawback for com-
mercial application. Laomin et al. (2012) developed an
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015
enzymatic process to overcome this drawback by
designing a packed bed reactor with immobilised lipase
for the effective re-esterification of free fatty acids. The
use of ion exchange acid resins was also explored as
an alternate for inorganic chemical catalysts as they
have high selectivity (Boffito et al., 2013; Deboni et al.,
2013). Due to the high capital cost involved, process-
ing with ion exchange resins is not followed at indus-
trial scale. However, further research to overcome this
problem, as done in the enzymatic process, can pro-
vide a potential technology. This esterification applica-
tion can further be exploited as an effective strategy
for reducing the trans fat contents in fat blends
(Wassell & Young, 2007; Wassell et al., 2010).
Biological deacidification
The use of microorganisms for the effective removal of
FFA was investigated by Cho et al. (1990). It was
found that Pseudomonas sp. isolated from soil samples
had the ability to utilise FFA without secretion of
extracellular lipase. Lack of formation of respective
glycerides was also noted. Designing media and pure
culture maintenance is a tedious process and the
inefficient separation of organisms from oil makes it
unacceptable for edible purposes. Despite the fact that
this method involves ambient conditions, the inability
of the organism to utilise short chain fatty acids was a
major drawback. Also culture maintenance, media
composition and downstream processes have to be
taken into consideration during cost analyses.
Extraction
Failure of enzymatic process at a commercial level has
led to the search for processes like solvent extraction
that is effective in large scale applications. The differ-
ence in the solubility of FFA and triglycerides is used
as a basis for this process (Apelblat et al., 1996). It is
advantageous as it takes place at ambient conditions
and without loss of neutral oil. As many reports are
available on the effective deacidification of oil by this
method (Bhosle & Subramanian, 2005), researchers
started developing the liquid–liquid equilibrium data
for the oil-solvent model systems to have a detailed
idea on the process (Oliveira et al., 2012). In order to
make the technique more feasible at industrial level,
Cheng & Lixiang (2013) developed a modified process
by using heat exchangers along with filter frame to
remove impurities followed by centrifugal extraction.
However, solvent extraction process suffers from the
fact that removal of solvent traces from oil after
extraction is tedious and energy intensive. Hence,
supercritical fluids were proposed in the place of sol-
vents for extraction. The attractive features of super-
critical fluids over the use of organic solvents are
© 2014 Institute of Food Science and Technology

nontoxicity, cheapness, ease of separation, highly selec-
tive and hence used for high acid oils (Dunford et al.,
2003). As the process requires expensive extraction
equipment, reducing the cost of production is the chal-
lenge. However, this process looks promising where oil
purity is the main factor.
Membrane technology
Membranes are a good alternative for all separation
processes involving chemicals. With the wide applica-
tion of membranes in the degumming stage, attempts
were made to utilise this application for the deacidifi-
cation step. Several researchers have tried deacidifica-
tion of oil by membranes with or without solvents, as
it provides a cost effective simpler process. Despite
these efforts, there is no breakthrough in the process.
As the free fatty acids are one-third the molecular
weight of triglycerides, the difference is too small to
separate by use of membranes alone (Subramanian
et al., 1998; Bhosle & Subramanian, 2005). Hence,
membrane application is coupled with solvent
extraction process. As most of the membranes are
designed for water treatment applications, the use of
membranes for deacidification with solvents alters the
membrane permeability characteristics (Raman et al.,
1996). Tres et al. (2010) characterised a number of
polymeric membranes for their application in deacidifi-
cation and found that some membranes like polyam-
ide, polyethersulfone are stable and suitable for
deacidification of oil-solvent mixture. The single limi-
tation of this process was membrane fouling, due to
deposition of oil on the membrane surface. Firman
et al. (2013) studied different nanofiltration membranes
for this application and simultaneously analysed the
permeability characteristics of membranes for efficient
separation. In order to further improve the efficiency,
Rao et al., 2013 suggested a three stage deacidification
process to reduce FFA levels upto 95%. Although
many reports on effective application of membranes
for edible oil refining are available, not many indus-
trial applications are found. Research groups are still
focusing on gaining more detailed knowledge of this
technology for finding new applications, and of mak-
ing those already being applied, more economical and
technologically attractive.
As deacidification process greatly influence the prod-
uct quality, harsh chemical and physical treatments are
still practised to ensure complete FFA removal. They
have the highest adverse effect on the nutritional com-
ponents of oil by reduction in glyceride oil containing
essential fatty acids (Bhosle & Subramanian, 2005). In
the case of physical deacidification process, the
tocopherol content in vegetable oil was found to
reduce drastically (Gibon et al., 2007), and degrada-
tion of PUFA was noted in fish oils (Fournier et al.,
© 2014 Institute of Food Science and Technology
Refining of edible oils C. Vaisali et al. 19
2006). Hence, several researchers worked on modifying
the existing technology by combining two or more
processes and by the introduction of a new stage to
already existing techniques (Niazmand et al., 2011).
All the deacidification processes though efficient have
several drawbacks (Table 2). However, further studies
on new approaches are needed considering the eco-
nomic viability to successfully replace the existing
technology.
Bleaching
Bleaching is a relatively important process which uses
bleaching clays or charcoal to remove many minor
impurities like colour compounds, oxidation products
(peroxides), also trace metals, phospholipid remains and
soaps from neutralised oils, thus improving the oxida-
tive stability and sensory qualities of the oil (Garcia-
Moreno et al. 2013). The adsorption capacity of clays is
due to high surface area and acidity. Activated clays are
most preferred for treating vegetable oils as they are
highly specific, more chemically active and efficient
(Zschau, 2001). In a review on palm oil refining, Gibon
et al. (2007) provided a detailed description of the dif-
ferent types of bleaching processes that have been used
in many refineries. While there is some loss of efficiency
due to thermodynamic limitations (Chapman & Pfannk-
och, 1992), bleaching with different clays or charcoal is
still widely followed at industrial level, as it improves
the quality of the final product and works well with
chemically treated oil. Hence, researchers developed
methods to activate cheap natural clays for improving
their efficiency in edible oil refining (Foletto et al., 2013;
Silva et al., 2013).
Throughout literature, researchers have been aiming
at producing edible oils of commercial consumer stan-
dard by use of different bleaching agents and process
(Eyup & C ß elik, 2005; Huang & Shativel, 2010; Suseno
et al., 2011). The available techniques of bleaching
revolve around the same application of adsorption and
new approaches are in demand. Su et al. (2013) sug-
gested the use of ultrasound enhanced bleaching,
where pigment removal was noted even in the absence
of adsorbents due to heat and sonochemical pigment
degradation. The major disadvantage of this process is
the inability to remove secondary oxidation products.
As bleaching is considered one of the important step
that guarantee the final quality of the oil, it is critical
to have more new approaches for this process that are
specific and efficient.
Deodorisation
This is the final stage of refining edible oil, for the
removal of odour creating components and trace ele-
ments thus extending shelf life of the oil. The end prod-
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015
20 Refining of edible oils C. Vaisali et al.
uct of this step is high quality refined oil with light col-
our and no odour. The odorous substances in oil are
usually by-products from lipid, protein and amino acid
degradation. This could be due to microbial spoilage,
autoxidation or by lipoxygenase activity (Lin et al.,
1990). Deodorisation is generally carried out by conven-
tional steam distillation process where compounds such
as undesirable flavour components, aldehydes and ke-
tone (oxidation products), residual free fatty acids are
removed. Based on the vapour pressure and volatility at
high temperature (180–220 °C) the components are
stripped from the oil. However, it is preferable to use
temperatures below 200 °C as it affects the quality of oil
by degrading essential components by cyclisation and
polymerisation of long chain PUFA (Camacho et al.,
2001 and Fournier et al., 2006).
The substitution of nitrogen as stripping gas has
been investigated, as it avoids oxidation of valuable
products and avoids formation of emulsion with water
(Decap et al., 2004). As some oils are sensitive to high
temperature, Chung & Lee (2009) investigated a novel
deodorisation process that involves the use of zeolites
for adsorption of trimethylamine (responsible for
odour in fouling fish) at low temperatures. Although
adsorption processes have many advantages over con-
ventional steam stripping, most of unsaturated alde-
hydes and alkanedienols that are responsible for
oxidation of PUFA were removed only in the steam
stripping process. Hence, there is future scope for the
study of application of different adsorbents for a sin-
gle step deodorisation and bleaching. Recent light on
the formation of monochloropropanediol esters (3-
MCPD, 2-MCPD) that cause significant health risk,
has subjected deodorisation process to be controlled
and monitored stringently (Destaillats et al., 2012).
Hence, researchers tried to understand the mechanism
of formation and decomposition of MCPD ester in oil
to have a better knowledge on refining strategy (Erma-
cor & Hrncirik, 2014a,b). As there is no absolute pro-
cess for effective deodorisation without thermal
degradation, there is great demand for new
approaches to be investigated for the complete de-
odorisation without any loss of valuable products.
Although some reviews on refining of edible oil are
available (Bhosle & Subramanian, 2005; Ghosh, 2007;
Gibon et al., 2007; Coutinho et al., 2009; Dijkstra,
2013; Ghazani & Marangoni, 2013), most of them dis-
cuss the refining strategies with respect to single type
of oil or a single stage of refining. There is no valid
report that could summarise the refining processes of
all kinds of oil. Reports on refining techniques with
implications on marine oil are meagre. Due to the
increasing importance given to n-3 PUFA of fish oils,
such reports on refining strategies for fish oil gives
industrialists better knowledge on their choice of tech-
nologies to be used.
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015
Conclusion
Refining is a necessary process that ensures the quality
of the edible oils for human consumption. The
removal of undesirable components while retaining the
essential portion of oil is critical. While conventional
methods like alkali treatment and physical refining
gives good results, destruction and stripping of desir-
able components due to harsh chemicals and high tem-
perature warrant further improvement in technology.
Use of eco-friendly techniques like enzymatic treat-
ment is effective, but as the enzymes are expensive, it
is seldom practiced in industry.
The future prospect would be to design a sustainable
integrated refining process with the consideration of
cost. Several reports are available on investigation of
single variety membranes for one or two steps of refin-
ing, but use of different set of membranes and modules
in combinations is yet to be assessed. It appears that
membranes processes are better poised to meet the
current demand of efficient and environmental friendly
process. Although research on use of membranes has
been going on for the past 30–40 years, very few com-
mercial applications have been reported. Future indus-
trialists and researchers are thus challenged to develop
new membrane processes which are sustainable, cost
effective and efficient.
Integration of membrane processes with conven-
tional process is worth exploring, as it can address sev-
eral drawbacks of respective technologies thereby
improve the overall efficiency, sustainability and eco-
nomics of the process. Constituents like sterols and
tocopherols are stripped during deodorisation, and
current knowledge indicates that health benefits may
be associated with their consumption and their mainte-
nance in refined oils is advisable (and for oil stability
reasons as well). Refining processes that retain such
components to a greater extent would be welcome.
The complexity in the composition of fish oils has
made the application of membrane process difficult for
fish oil refining. As not many reports are available on
the refining of fish oils, there is further scope in design-
ing the refining process for fish oil. Novel methods for
deodorisation and deacidification of fish oil are yet to
be explored. Considering the fact that fish oil is rela-
tively cheap and abundantly available, efficient de-
odorisation will help in promoting its use for culinary
purposes as well.
Acknowledgments
We gratefully acknowledge the financial support pro-
vided by Science and Engineering Research Board
(SERB), Ministry of Food Processing Industries
(MOFPI), Govt. of India to carry out this research
(SERB/MOFPI/0016/2012).
© 2014 Institute of Food Science and Technology

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Supporting Information
Additional Supporting Information may be found in
the online version of this article:
Figure S1. Structure of essential fatty acids.
Table S1. Fatty acid composition of various fish oils
(% fatty acids).
Table S2. Fatty acid profile of some of commonly
used vegetable oils (% fatty acids).
Table S3. Performance of some of the membranes.
International Journal of Food Science and Technology 2015