A feasibility has been studied, on physical process for refining soybean oil by using ultra-filtration.
In this work, the following was clarified. The solvent-resistant polyimide ultrafiltration membrane, which is available from Nitto Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., designated as NTU-4200, is effective for processing soybean miscella at 40°C, and molecular weight cutoff Value 20000 of the polyimide ultrafiltration membrane gives good results for degumming soybean miscella. And, total physical refining process of soybean oil is practicable.
From economical estimation by bench-scale test plant, physical refining of soybean oil by use of membrane separation is effectively profitable, comparing with the conventional chemical refining. This might be epochmaking matter for oil industry.