Optimum and adjusted refining practices for soybean oil

Crude soybean oil inevitably varies in quality because of differences in seed handling, extraction, and soybean oil storage and handling. Optimum refining consists of determining and recognizing these differences and adjusting refining practices to produce the highest possible quality in final products. Degumming and caustic refining require sufficient hydration contact time to remove phosphatides to the maximum, which in turn reduces caustic treatment, bleaching earth use, and hydrogenation catalyst use, and which produces the best quality of final products at the lowest possible cost. In addition to easily calculated cost savings, other savings-longer times between cleanings of the deodorizers and hydrogenators, lower wastewater discharge, less spent bleaching earth disposal, and better control and speed of hydrogenation are all achievable.