Phospholipid Profile Based Enzymatic Degumming Solutions
Arjen Sein, Tim Hitchman, David Walsh, Wouter Smits 
DSM Biotechnology Center, Delft, the Netherlands and DSM Food Specialties, San Diego, USA

Crude oil extracted from oil seeds is refined to remove impurities that adversely impact oil stability, color and flavor. Phospholipids are a major class of impurities that are removed in conventional processes by oil degumming, at significant loss in oil yield. 

In traditional oil refining, phospholipid removal is accomplished by addition of water to crude oil, a process termed water degumming. Addition of water to the oil causes hydration of the phosphate esters, bringing the phospholipids to the oil-water interface. The hydrated phospholipids drag neutral oil with them, resulting in formation of an emulsion or gum containing water, phospholipids and entrained neutral oil. 

Enzymatic degumming is a known alternative to water degumming that addresses the yield-loss issue. Although enzymatic degumming itself was introduced in the nineties, it has come to real fruition since 2008, with the development of phospholipase C, such as Purifine® PLC. For oil yield optimization of soybean oil, it is the preferred enzyme as 1) it converts phospholipids into water-soluble phosphate esters and diglycerides, that add to the neutral oil, and 2) it breaks the emulsifying capacity of the phospholipids, thereby minimizing the oil loss to the gums. Thus by Purifine® degumming a double yield benefit is obtained and is retained throughout the refining process. However, not all phospholipids are equally smoothly converted by a standard phospholipase C solution. Moreover, different oils have different phospholipid compositions. Therefore specific phospholipases are needed to realize high phospholipid hydrolysis for maximum yield benefit. Phospholipase compositions are tuned to level and composition of phospholipids in the particular oil. This presentation will focus on the next generation degumming solutions to enhance yield, regardless of level of phosphorus or amount of non-hydratable phospholipids in the crude oil.