After extracting free fatty acids (FFA) from a model crude vegetable oil with methanol, FFA were separated from methanol by nanofiltration. Of the several commercially available membranes that were evaluated, the best resulted in FFA rejection of >90% and flux of >25 Lm -2 h -1. A combination of high-rejection and low-rejection membranes resulted in a retentate stream of 35% FFA and a permeate stream with less than 0.04% FFA, which can be recycled to the extractor. No alkali is required, no soapstock is formed, and almost all streams within the membrane process are recycled with little discharged as effluent.JAOCS 73, 219-224 (1996).
Membranes can solve some of the major drawbacks of current vegetable oil processing methods. They can greatly enhance the efficiency of hexane recovery, combine degumming and bleaching into one step, solve the pollution problems of alkali deacidification, and also be used to treat gas and vapor streams.
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