A bleaching earth from egyptian local deposits

Abstract

The present investigation deals with the bleaching of vegetable oils using activated clays collected from some deposits in Egypt as compared to Tonsil FF currently used by local oil industry. The comparison was made; not only on the basis of the decolourising power of the earth, but also on the basis of its effects on the oil acidity, formation of the oil peroxides and the decomposition rate of the formed peroxides to aldehydes and ketones during the bleaching process. The activation of the collected earth samples was made using 4N HCl, 6N HCl and 30 % H₂SO₄. The bleaching tests of the activated samples were performed using the major four oil types processed in Egypt being cottonseed, sunflower, soybean and palm oils. In addition to the laboratory-evaluation tests, the performance of the activated samples, which showed promise on the lab-scale have been also tested on an industrial scale. The industrial application has proved that the activated local earth's can be successfully used as bleaching earth of local oils. Thus it can be used as a substitute of the varieties currently imported and used by the local oil sector.