DEGUMMING AND NEUTRALIZATION

As a provider of complete solutions to the Biodiesel industry, Incbio is also able to offer crude oil refining. To this effect we design and build modular crude oil degumming and neutralization modules.

The system can either degum oil as part of physical refining or degum and neutralize oil as part of chemical refining. Oils with low contents of non-hydratable phosphatides (gums) such as palm oil can typically be physically refined, while oils with high contents, such as jatropha oil, should be neutralized for optimum quality.

Acid Conditioning: The first step in both degumming and neutralizing is to treat the oil with acid to precipitate impurities such as non-hydratable phosphatides and trace metals. The incoming oil is heated and intensively mixed with acid in the Acid Mixer and Conditioning Reactor.

Degumming: Water and a small amount of caustic soda are mixed with the conditioned oil. The mixture is discharged via the Separator where the gums are removed and sent to storage.

Neutralizing: The acid conditioned oil is treated with enough caustic to fully neutralize (saponify) the free fatty acids in the oil as well as remove gums and other impurities. The resulting soap is removed in the Separator.