Realizing no CAPEX enzymatic degumming and refining, from concept to industrial validation

Realizing no CAPEX enzymatic degumming and refining, from concept to industrial validation

Since the launching of enzymatic oil degumming and refining more than a decade ago, one challenge that the oil processors has been encountering is the CAPEX needs coming with the enzymatic solution. For example, enzymes typically work at 50-65 °C, which is 20-40 °C lower than the temperature of the incoming oil from the extraction plant, therefore, heat exchangers need to be built in. Further examples are extra tank space and high-shear mixer, these CAPEX needs are very often the hurdle to prevent the oil processors benefit from the value enzymatic solutions bring, such as extra oil yield and less chemical consumption.

To overcome the CAPEX hurdle, a new enzyme solution was launched by dsm-firmenich in 2023. The enzyme product, namely Purifine LM, is advised to be added in the water degumming step without any process change, and is expecting to generate 1-2% extra oil without compromise quality of crude degummed oil. The solution was trialed successfully at industrial scale with multiple oil processors globally, and some of them have already adopted this solution in their standard operation.

To extend the no CAPEX concept beyond water degumming, the application development team of dsm-firmenich has been testing Purifine LM in combination with different deep-degumming/refining processes to demonstrate the benefits on yield as well as on reduced chemical usage.