Process for refining vegetable oil with suppression of unwanted impurities

Abstract

Process for refining vegetable oil, to suppress the formation of monochloropropanediol esters (MCPDe) and reduce the content of glycidyl esters, comprising first and second refinement stages, wherein the first refinement stage comprises: a) providing a crude vegetable oil having a combined MCPDe and glycidyl ester content below 0.2 ppm; b) degumming the crude vegetable oil to produced degummed vegetable oil; c) bleaching of the degummed vegetable oil with activated bleaching earth under reduced pressure to yield bleached vegetable oil; d) adding a base to the bleached vegetable oil and subsequent stripping and deodorizing under reduced pressure at a temperature below 255° C. to yield an intermediate refined vegetable oil; and a second refinement stage comprising the steps of: e) bleaching of the intermediate refined vegetable oil using activated bleaching earth under reduced pressure to yield a bleached vegetable oil; and f) deodorizing at a temperature below 220° C. to yield fully refined vegetable oil, wherein the fully refined vegetable oil has a combined MCPDe and glycidyl ester content below 4 ppm.