Journal of Oil Palm Research Vol. 35 (2) June 2023, p. 217-235
MEMBRANE TECHNOLOGIES IN THE OIL INDUSTRY AND THEIR POTENTIAL APPLICATION FOR THE RECOVERY OF PHYTONUTRIENTS FROM PALM OIL
DOI: https://doi.org/10.21894/jopr.2022.0069
Received: 4 April 2022 Accepted: 29 August 2022 Published Online: 26 October 2022
Palm oil is one of the most widely commercialised vegetable oils globally. This oil contains important phytonutrients, such as carotenoids (provitamin A), tocopherols and tocotrienols (vitamin E). These phytonutrients are thermally degraded and removed from crude palm oil (CPO) through bleaching techniques in the refinement process. This article focuses on using membrane technology as a green alternative to recover these compounds, specifically, the use of nanofiltration as a potential mechanism for recovering edible oil phytonutrients from palm oil. Furthermore, due to the few studies related to this topic, the review also highlights microfiltration and ultrafiltration uses in other crude oils (CO) for degumming and deacidification refining processes for phospholipids (Pl) and free fatty acids (FFA) removal. Finally, an overview of the biological functions of palm oil phytonutrients in health and their applications in the food industry is presented.
KEYWORDS:1 Facultad de Ciencias Agrarias,
Universidad Nacional de Colombia,
111321 Bogotá, D.C., Colombia.
2 Processing Program Coordinator,
Colombian Oil Palm Research Center (Cenipalma),
0906 Bogotá, D.C., Colombia.
3 Food Science & Technology Research Center (CICTA),
School of Chemical Engineering,
Universidad Industrial de Santander (UIS),
Bucaramanga, Santander, Colombia. 680006.
4 Instituto de Ciencia y Tecnología de Alimentos (ICTA),
Universidad Nacional de Colombia,
111321 Bogotá, D.C., Colombia.
* Corresponding author e-mail: airadab@unal.edu.co