Development of a method for chlorophyll removal from canola oil using mineral acids

Because of the high level of chlorophyll-type compounds found in canola oil, bleaching is an important and critical step in the canola oil refining process. In this study, a new method for reducing the chlorophyll-type impurities prior to the bleaching step was developed. This method is based on precipitating the chlorophyll compounds with mineral acids. Concentrations of chlorophyll-type compounds of up to 30 ppm could be reduced to amounts of less than 0.01 ppm by mixing the crude canola oil with a 0.4 wt% mixture of phosphoric and sulfuric acids (2:0.75, vol/vol) for 5 min at 50 degrees C. Centrifugation and filtration also were examined as two main methods for separating the chlorophyll precipitates. The results showed that filtration by a precoated textural filter with filter-aid clay could separate the precipitates as well as the centrifugation method.