General Description of Industry Activities

The vegetable oil processing industry extracts and processes

oils and fats from vegetable sources. Vegetable oils and fats
are principally used for human consumption, but they are
also used in animal feed, for medicinal purposes, and for
certain technical applications. In developing countries, the
production of crude palm oil (CPO) is typically carried out in
CPO mills associated with the plantations. CPO is then
transported to refineries all around the world. A significant
part of the CPO, however, is processed locally and exported
as refined, bleached, and deodorized (rbd) quality oil.

Figure A-1 presents a simplified flow diagram of vegetable

oil production. The main steps in vegetable oil processing
are extraction, refinement, other modification, and
deodorization.

Extraction Oil is extracted from beans, grains, seeds, nuts,

and fruits. The raw materials are received at the facility and
stored before initial processing. The type of storage depends
on the raw material, (e.g. soybeans are stored in grain elevators). The raw materials are
prepared using a variety of processes, including cleaning, drying, crushing, conditioning, and
pressing. Beans are processed into flakes so that the oil cells are exposed, facilitating oil
extraction, and fruits are pressed to extract oil. Environmental, health and safety issues from the
raw material preparation phase include particulate emissions (e.g. from cleaning and drying),
and solid waste (e.g. empty fruit bunches [EFB]) resulting from threshing operations as well as
sticks, stems, pods, sand, and dirt.

Oil extraction can be performed mechanically (e.g. by boiling fruits and pressing seeds and nuts)
or in combination with the use of solvents. During solvent extraction, hexane is used to wash the
processed raw materials, typically in a countercurrent extractor. The extraction is normally
followed by skimming (boiled oils) or filtration (pressed fats) and separation of the crude oil
from the solvent-oil mixture (micella). Hexane is removed from the oil through distillation, and
from the flakes through steam vapor in a desolventizer, and recovered for reuse after
condensation and separation from water. The recovery processes for flakes that are intended
for animal consumption typically use conventional distillation to remove hexane in a
desolventizer-toaster. The desolventized flakes are then ground for use as meal (e.g. soybean
meal). The process for flakes that are intended for human consumption uses specialty or “flash”
distillation, in which superheated hexane is used in a vacuum followed by steam stripping. Flash
distillation removes more residual hexane from the flakes, but it uses more energy and
generates more emissions than the conventional process.

Example of Palm Oil Extraction

Palm fruit is processed to produce crude palm fruit oil and crude palm kernel oil. The fruit
grows in clusters on a central, branched stalk rather similar to grapes and consists of oily pulp
surrounded by a tough outer skin containing seeds (or kernels) in the pulp. Palm fruit oil is
extracted from the pulp and palm kernel oil is extracted from the seed.
During harvest, the bunches are loaded into lorries or railway cars and taken to the extraction
facility. The sterilizing cars are rolled into cylindrical sterilizing chambers and steam is sparged
into the chamber. The heat sterilizes the fruit to prevent bacterial or enzymatic activity from
attacking the oil. The length of time in the sterilization chamber depends on the size and
maturity of the fruit.

After sterilization, the fruits are removed from the stems in threshing equipment and then
washed before being transported to a twin-screw press that squeezes out the palm fruit oil.
When possible, EFBs should be returned to the plantations where, together with the trimmings
from trees, they should be spread on the ground to biodegrade. The extracted palm fruit oil is
clarified in a continuous decanter or settling tank to remove water and solid matter. The cake
from the screw press consists of moist pulp solids, kernels (or seeds), and the outer skin of the
fruit. The kernels are separated from the fiber and cellular debris and conditioned by lowering
their moisture level so that the meat shrinks loose from the shell. The kernels are then cracked
and the meats are separated from the shells either by mixing them into an aqueous slurry of
clay or salt so that the kernels float and the shells sink; or mixing them with water and passing
the mixture through a liquid cyclone (the heavier shells pass out of the bottom and the lighter
meat floats to the top). The meats are then dried and sent for storage before being pressed in
screw presses to produce palm kernel oil.

Refinement The crude oil is refined to remove undesired impurities such as gums, free fatty
acids (FFA), traces of metals, coloring components, and volatile components. During refining,
the FFA are removed to the level of less than 0.1 percent in the refined oil either by chemical or
physical refining. Where appropriate, preference should be given to physical rather than
chemical refining of crude oil as the bleaching earth used in this process has a lower
environmental impact. Conversely, chemical refining results in a better product quality in terms
of lower FFA levels, longer shelf life, and a more reliable process.14

Before refining occurs, degumming may be applied to the crude oil. Degumming is an essential
step of the physical refining process because the oil entering the final deodorization has to have
a low content of phosphatide. Degumming is also used in conjunction with chemical refining.
Degumming methods can either be acidic or enzymatic. In acidic degumming, phosphoric acid is
added to remove phosphatides, phospholipids, and lecithins. Degummed oil has a phosphorus
content of less than 30 parts per million (ppm). Citric acid may be used instead of phosphoric
acid, which brings a range of advantages, including reduced phosphorus load in the wastewater
and a slight reduction in the amount of sludge. Enzymatic degumming uses enzymatic
hydrolysis of the phosphatides. Environmental benefits from this approach include reduced
consumption of phosphoric and sulfuric acid, as well as caustic soda, water, and energy.

Chemical Refining

Conventional chemical refining involves degumming for the removal of phospholipids,

neutralization for the removal of FFA, and bleaching for decolorization and deodorization.
Water is added during degumming to hydrate any gums present and the mixture is then
centrifuged for separation. Non-hydratable gums are removed using phosphoric or citric acid
before water is added and separation takes place in a centrifuge.
During degumming, caustic soda is added to the oil, which has been preheated to between 75oC
and 110oC to saponify the FFA. This process gives rise to two main outputs, namely semirefined
oil and soap stock. The soap stock is removed by precipitation followed by sedimentation or
centrifugation and may be further processed into acid oils by splitting. The soap stock is heated
to between 70oC and 100oC and reacts with sulfuric acid to reform the fatty acids. The resulting
by-products can be sold to the paints and cosmetics sector, as well as to the animal feed
industry. The neutralized oil is bleached to remove coloring matter and other minor
constituents.

Physical Refining

Physical refining is a more simple process in which the crude oil is degummed and bleached,
and then steam stripped to remove FFA, odor, and VOCs all in one step. A physical pretreatment
can be used to achieve a low phospholipid content by degumming and using bleaching earth.
Following this, FFA can be stripped from the physically pretreated oil using steam in a vacuum
at temperatures of around 250oC and refined by the oil flowing over a series of trays
countercurrent to the flow of the stripping steam. Previous neutralization stages are not
necessary because the neutralization and deodorization are combined. A scrubber is then used
to condense the greater part of the fat from the vapors as a water-free product.15

Other Modification

Hydrogenation

Most installations carry out hydrogenation to produce fats with superior retention qualities and
higher melting points. Hydrogenation is usually carried out by dispersing hydrogen gas in the
oil in the presence of a finely divided nickel catalyst supported on diatomaceous earth. The
resultant hydrogenated fats are filtered to remove the hydrogenation catalyst, subjected to a
light earth bleach, and deodorized before they can be used for edible purposes. After hardening,
the oil is mixed with an aqueous solution to produce an emulsion. The emulsified mixture is
then pasteurized, cooled, and crystallized to obtain the final product.16

Interestification

Interestification involves the separation of triglycerides into fatty acids and glycerol followed by
recombination. The reaction is carried out using phosphoric or citric acid with a catalyst
typically sodium methoxide. Interestification modifies the functional properties of the treated
oil and may be carried out after neutralization or deodorization.

Deodorization During deodorization, the bleached oil is steam-distilled at low pressure to

remove volatile impurities, including undesirable odors and flavors. Volatile components are
removed from the feedstock using steam in a process that may last from 15 minutes to 5 hours.
The vapors from the deodorizer contain air, water vapor, fatty acids, and other variables. Before
entering the vessel, the vapors pass through a scrubber and a scrubbing liquid is sprayed in the
vapor stream. Fatty acids and volatiles partly condense on the scrubbing droplets or
alternatively on the packing material. This process produces the fully refined, edible oils and
fats.
Resource Consumption Vegetable oil processing facilities use energy to heat water and produce
steam for process applications (especially for soap splitting and deodorization) and for cleaning
processes. Energy consumption will vary according to oil type (e.g. the energy needed for cold-
pressing unconditioned olive oil is twice as high as the energy needed for pressing heat-
conditioned oilseeds).

Water is mainly used for neutralization and deodorization, and both processes produce
wastewater with a high organic load. Typically used chemicals include alkalis such as caustic
soda and sodium carbonate; acids including phosphoric acid, citric acid, and sulfuric acid; Ni-
catalysts; and methylates. Solvents such as acetone, ethanol, and methanol are sometimes used
instead of, or to supplement, hexane in the extraction process. Hexane can cause health
problems in relatively low concentrations and other dangerous chemicals, including strong
acids and bases, present significant health and safety hazards.

In parallel with the primary production of vegetable oil, some byproducts, such as oils for
animal feed or pharmaceutical products, are often produced by further processing of residues.
This processing can reduce solid waste production, including fractions like spent bleaching
earth that can be reused for energy production through direct incineration or biogas production
either on-site or at another location. Citric acid and phosphoric acid can generally be used
interchangeably in degumming operations.

Soybean Oil Refining

Crude soybean oil contains free fatty acids, phosphorus

compounds, protein fines, and triglycerides. The crude oil can
be either treated directly with caustic or undergo an optional
step to degum the oil, which removes the lecithin. After
treatment with caustic, the oil is centrifuged to separate the
aqueous refining by-product lipid from the oil. This lipid
solution contains protein fines, phosphorus compounds, some
saponified triglycerides, and sodium salts of the fatty acids.
Following separation of the lipid, the oil is washed with water
and centrifuged to remove some of the remaining saponified
triglycerides.

The refined oil is then bleached and deodorized. In the bleaching step, the refined oil is treated
with bleach clay and then transferred to a vacuum bleaching tank. Following the bleaching step,
the spent clay is filtered from the oil and the refined, bleached oil is ready for the deodorizing
step. Prior to the deodorizing step, the bleached oil may be hydrogenated using a nickel catalyst
and the resultant liquid supercooled to filter out the saturated oil. The refined, bleached oil is
deodorized by stripping in a still with steam ejectors. In the stripping process, any triglycerides
and fatty acids remaining in the refined, bleached oil are removed and the refined-bleached-
deodorized (RBD) oil is ready for processing into commercial products. A process flow diagram
for the edible oil processing operation is attached to this memorandum.
Vegetable Oil Manufacturing

INTRODUCTION

Vegetable oil manufacturing generally involves removal of oil from oilseeds (solvent extraction),
followed by processing of the "crude" oil recovered from them (oil processing). The Process
Description which follows describes specific operations related to soybeans.

PROCESS DESCRIPTION

OILSEED HANDLING ELEVATOR OPERATIONS

Figure 1 is a schematic diagram of the typical soybean

handling/elevator operations that precede preparing of
soybeans for the solvent extraction process. Oilseed
handling elevator operations are typically comprised of
the following:

 Receiving/storage; and,
 Cleaning/drying

Receiving/Storage

Soybeans that have been received at a facility by truck or

rail are first sampled and analyzed for moisture content,
foreign matter, and damaged seeds. After
sarnpling/analysis is completed, the beans are weighed and conveyed to large concrete silos or
metal tanks for storage to await processing.

Cleaning/Drving

When the facility is ready to process soybeans, the beans are removed from the silo or tank and
cleaned of trash, other foreign materials, and loose hulls. Screens are typically used to remove
foreign materials such as sticks, stems, pods, tramp metal, sand, and dirt. An aspiration system
is used to remove loose hulls from the soybeans. The beans are then passed through dryers to
reduce their moisture content to approximately 10 to 11 percent moisture by weight, and
conveyed to Process Bins for temporary storage and tempering lo facilitate dehulling.
PREPARATION OF SOYBEANS FOR SOLVENT EXTRACTION

Figure 2 is a schematic diagram of the process for

preparing soybeans for the solvent extraction process.
The process tends to be fairly well standardized, with
the four principal Operations being:

 Cracking;
 Dehulling/hull removal;
 Conditioning; and,
 Flaking

Crackinq

Soybeans are conveyed from the Process Bins to the

mill by means of belt or mass flow conveyors and
bucket elevators. In the mill the beans are again
aspirated, weighed, cleaned of tramp metal by
magnets, and fed into corrugated cracking rolls. The
cracking rolls serve to "crack" each bean into 4 to 6
particles lo facilitate separation of the hulls from the
oil-rich bean.

Dehulling/Hull Removal

The cracked beans are then passed through an aspirator to remove the hulls from the cracked
beans. The hulls are processed separately after removal of residual bean chips. The cracked
beans and bean chips are conveyed to conditioning.

Conditioning

The cracked beans and bean chips are put into a rotary steam tubed device or in a stacked
cooker and healed to "condition" them (Le., make them pliable and keep them hydrated).
Conditioning is necessary to permit the flaking of the chips without their being broken into
smaller particles.

Flakinq

The heated, cracked beans are conveyed and fed to smooth, cylindrical rolls which press the
particles into smooth "flakes" varying in thickness from approximately 0.01 0 to 0.020 inches
thickness. Doing so exposes the soybean flakes' oil cells for easier extraction of the oil.
 SOLVENT EXTRACTION

The extraction process consists of "washing" oil from

the soybean flakes with a hexal solvent in a
countercurrent extractor, and then evaporating
solvent from (i.e., desolventizing) both the
solvent/oil mixture (miscella) and the solvent-laden,
defatted flakes separately (see Figure 3). The oil is
desolventized by exposing the solvent/oil mixture to
steam (contact and non-contact). after which the
solvent is condensed, separated from the steam
condensate, and reused. The desolventized oil, called
"crude" soybean oil, is stored for further processing.

Flakes, on the other hand, are desolventized in either

of two ways, depending on the end use of the flakes -
"conventional" desolventizing, and specialty or
"flash" desolventizing. In the conventional
desolventizing process, the flakes are desolventized
by steam (contact and non-contact), and the solvent
is condensed, separated from the steam condensate,
and reused. The desolventized. defatted flakes are
dried, cooled, and ground for use as soybean meal - a
protein source in animal feeds (see Figure 4).

In the specialty or "flash" desolventizing process,

solvent is removed from the defatted flakes with
superheated solvent or in a vacuum with a small
quantity of non-contact steam. The defatted flakes,
which have a much higher protein solubility than
those from the conventional desolventizing process,
are then cooled. Flakes desolventized in this manner
are typically used for human foods.

Extraction

Soybean flakes are conveyed into the extractor, where they are washed counter currently with
various hexal/oil mixtures and, finally, with pure hexane. The initial oil content of the soybeans
is approximately 18 to 20 percent by weight, while the defatted flakes, after extraction, contain
approximately 0.5 to 2.0 percent oil by weight. There are two types of extractors that use the
percolation process described above - a "deep bed" extractor and a "shallow bed" extractor. The
deep bed extractor is a horizontal unit with pie-shaped mesh baskets that rotate around a
vertical shaft. Bed depth in this extractor vanes from approximately 6 to 10 feet. The shallow
bed extractor, a more recent design than the deep bed extractor, conveys soybean flakes
horizontally over closely spaced "vee-bars" while washing them with oil and hexane and, finally,
pure hexane. Bed depth in the shallow bed extractor normally varies irom approximately 2 to 3
feet.
Desolventizing (Oil)

An oil/hexane mixture is removed from the extractor separate from the defatted flakes. The
mixture is first pumped through heaters, then evaporators under vacuum, and finally through a
packed stripping column to remove the hexane.

A hexane/water vapor mixture is removed from each oil desolventizing unit and condensed in a
"separation" tank to separate the hexane from the water. Once separated from the water, the
hexane is reused in the extraction process. Crude oil is cooled and stored in tanks for further
processing.

Conventional Desolventizing (Flakes)

The solvent-laden, defatted soybean flakes are conveyed from the extractor to a desolventizer-
toaster (DT) where they are desolventized. The DT contains stacked pans with a vertical center
shaft equipped with "sweeps" which mix and stir the flakes while they are being heated with
both contact and non-contact steam to evaporate the solvent. The resulting steam/solvent
vapor mixture is exhausted from the top of the DT and both are subsequently condensed and
put into the same separation tank as that used in the oil desolventizing process. The
desolventized flakes, whose moisture content has increased from approximately 10 to 11
percent by weight to approximately 18 to 22 percent by weight, are conveyed to a "dryer-
cooler" in sequence to reduce their moisture back to approximately 12 percent.

There are two types of dryer-coolers used by the industry. One type is a horizontal, cylindrical
dryer paired with a horizontal cylindrical cooler. The dryer is approximately 6 to 10 feet in
diameter, approximately 30 to 50 feet long, contains longitudinal steam tubes, and rotates on a
horizontal axis. The cooler is a horizontal cylinder of approximately the same dimensions
through which ambient air is circulated to cool the dried flakes.

The second type of dryer-cooler is a stacked pan unit similar in design to the DT discussed
above. Each pan in the unit is perforated, and drying/cooling of the flakes is achieved by passing
high volumes of air through the perforations and the defatted flakes. Heated air is circulated
through the first couple of pans, while ambient air is circulated through the last couple of pans.

Soecialtv or "Flash" Desolventizina (Flakes)

Flash or specialty desolventizing is used when the objective is lo minimize denaturation of the
protein in the flakes which occurs with toasting. In this process, flakes are desolventized in a
vacuum with a small quantity of non-contact steam or in a pneumatic loop using superheated
solvent. This is followed by a final solvent stripping step using very small quantities of steam in
a rotary or agitated vessel.

This type of desolventizing is far less efficient than conventional desolventizing in terms of both
energy consumption and solvent removal. In addition. equipment used in the specialty
desolventizing process is appreciably larger in volume than that for a similarly sized
conventional process. Given the above factors, plant solvent emission factors are considerably
higher for a specialty desolventizing plant than for a similarly sized conventional desolventizing
plant.