Vegetable oils steam refining

Although 2-furoic acid (pyromucic acid) was known to Scheele in 1780, furan was obtained only in 1870 by Limpricht. Furfural began to be produced commercially in the 1930s by the Quaker Oats Company and its subsidiary, the Miner Laboratory. It had been observed that oat husks (waste from breakfast cereals) afforded furfural on treatment with acids in about 10% yield, along with non-volatile cattle food. Among the many uses of furfural, one should mention (i) the manufacture of plastics based on the phenol-furfural-formaldehyde reaction, (ii) its use as selective solvent for aromatics in the petrochemical industry and oil refinement, and (iii) the separation of saturated from unsaturated fats (triglycerides) in the refinement of vegetable oils. Furfural can be recovered by steam distillation and recycled. 

Deodorizer distillate is the material collected from the steam distillation of vegetable oils, as it occurs in the process of deodorization or physical refining (103). The material has a sludgelike appearance and consistency so is often referred to as scum or scum oil. 

Since vegetable oil and other human food grade oils undergo deodorization (steam distillation) and other purification processes (i.e., refining and bleaching) as part of the manufacturing process prior to being used as a food product, they should not contain any of... 

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