INTRODUCTION

Lecithin was used in the past to describe a sticky, orange-colored, phosphorus- and -nitrogen
containing material, which in 1847 was originally segregated from egg yolk. In Greek, the word
Lecithin comes from “lekythos” which in the female sense means “egg yolk” while in the male
sense means “yellow pea soup”. Later in 1867-1868, it was determined that choline was the
nitrogen containing fraction of lecithin, which is earlier known to be an organic base present in the
bile. Lecithin is the common name for a naturally occurring mixture of phospholipids varying from
light brown to dark brown in color and from a fluid to solid in consistency. It is the gummy material
found in vegetable oils obtained by the degumming process. The key source of commercial lecithin
is soya beans. Lecithin also happens to be the most valued byproduct of the soy oil processing
industry because of its numerous uses in food and other industries.

Soybean lecithin comprise of phosphatides, Phyto glycolipids, triglycerides, phytosterols,

tocopherols and free fatty acids. The major functional ingredient in soybean lecithin is the
phosphatides.[5]Typical composition is shown in tables below,[6]

Approximate composition of natural commercial Soybean lecithin:

%
Soybean oil 35
Phosphatidyl choline 16
Phosphatidyl ethanolamine 14
Phosphatidyl inositol 10
Phyto glycolipids, minor phosphatides 17
Carbohydrates 7
Moisture 1

Composition of lecithin’s, Oil free basis, %

Phospholipid Soybean Corn Sunflower Rapeseed Peanut Egg Bovine

lecithin lecithin seed lecithin lecithin lecithin brain
lecithin lecithin

phosphatidylcholine 21 31 14 37 23 69 18
phosphatidyl- 22 3 24 29 8 24 36
ethanolamine
Phosphatidylinositol 19 16 13 14 17 2
phosphatidic acid 10 9 7 2 2
phosphatidylserine 1 1 3 18
sphingomyelin 1 15
glycolipids 12 3 20 12
The commercial classification of lecithin is fluid, oil-free, and modified. When crude oil(soybean,
canola, sunflower) is treated gums obtained) contain about 70% phospholipids and 30% oil and
water. Drying is done to recover lecithin. By the addition of free fatty acids, metal salts, and/or oil
fluidization is achieved. Fluid lecithin specification usually indicate at least of 62% acetone
insoluble. Bleaching of lecithin is done where color is important by the addition of hydrogen
peroxide and benzoyl peroxide in the degumming step. By treating the gums with acetone oil free
lecithin in obtained, resulting in 95–97% phospholipids.

Composition of commercial Soy lecithin and Egg lecithin, wt.%:

Compound Soy lecithin Egg lecithin

pHOSPHATIDYLCHOLINE 10-15 65-70
PHOPHATIDYLETHANOLAMINE 9-12 9-13
PHOSPHATIDYLINOSITOL 8-10
PHOSPHATIDYLSERINE 1-2
PHOSPHATIDIC ACID 2-3
LYSOPHOSPHATIDYLCHOLINE 1-2 2-4
LYSOPHOSPHATIDYLETHANOLAMINE 1-2 2-4
PHYTOGLYCOLIPIDS 4-7
PHYTOSTERINES 0.5-0.2
OTHER PHOSPHORUS CONTAINING LIPIDS 5-8
SPHINGOMYELIN 2-3
SACCHAROSE 2-3
FREE FATTY ACIDS Max 1 Max 1
MONO, DI-GLYCERIDES Max 1 Traces
WATER Max 1.5 Max 1.5
triglycerides Ca 35-40 10-15
USES AND FUNCTIONS OF PHOSPHOLIPIDS:

Products Functions
Food
Instant food Wetting and dispersing agents; emulsifier
Baked goods Modification of baking properties; emulsifier; antioxidants
Chocolate Viscosity reduction; antioxidant
Margarine Emulsifier;ant spattering agent; antioxidants
Dietetics Nutritional supplements
Feed stuffs
Calf milk replacers Emulsifier; wetting and dispersing agent
Industry
Insecticides Emulsifier; dispersing agent; active substance
Paints Dispersing agent; stabilizers
Magnetic tapes Dispersing agent; emulsifier
Leather Softening agent; oil penetrant
Textiles Softening; lubricant
Cosmetics
Hair care Foam stabilizer; emollient
Skin care Emulsifier; emollient; wetting agent; refatting
Pharmaceuticals
Parental nutrition Emulsifier
Suppositories Softening agent; carrier
Cremes, Lotion Emulsifier; Penetration improver

Function and users of lecithin:

Lecithin serves many purposes for example

(1) Emulsifying
(2)Solubilization
(3)Suspension
(4)Wetting/instantizing
(5)Lubrication and Release
(6)Crystallization Control
(7)Complexing
(8)Anti-spatter
(9) Viscosity Modifying
(10)Therapeutically.

Uses In Food Industries:

A lot of our daily foods make use of lecithin. It is used in margarine for antispatter and emulsifying,
in chocolates, to control viscosity, in chewing gum for softening and release effects, in cocoa,
coffee powders for wetting, dispersing and emulsifying in milk replacer to add energy and
digestibility. It can also be found in baked goods, dairy, meat and poultry products and so on.

Non Food Industrial Uses

Lecithin uses range from cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, plastic, rubber, glass, metal industries, to
textile and leather.

Commercial importance:

Due to multi functionality and wide application of soy lecithin, its sells 2 to 3 times more than the
price of soya bean oil. Lecithin’s world demand is estimated to be at 100,000 tons per year. 30,000
tons of which is used in western Europe.

Comparison of Soy lecithin with other sources:

Previously the primary source of commercial lecithin is soybean. The U.S. production amount was
about 98000 short tons yearly from 1994-2010. At many times other oil-seed based lecithins have
been available commercially such as corn and cotton seed,rapeseed and sunflower lecithins.

Rapeseed lecithin:

The phosphatide content of rapeseed lecithin is similar to soybean with respect to the three major
ones (PC, PE, PI). Rapeseed lecithin constitutes 38–46% PC, 27–43% PE, and 18–33% PI while
soybean contains (43% PC, 16% PE, and 41% PI). The total phospholipid content depends on the
whether solvent extraction or expellers are utilized to produce crude oil. Solvent extracted oils
contain 1–5.3%, while expeller pressed oil contains 0.6–2.4%. The phosphatide contents are lower
with nonpolar solvents like hexane compared to more polar solvents such as alcohols. Solvent
extracted oils have higher phosphatide content than pressed oils.

Sunflower lecithin:

Sunflower and soybean lecithin have similar surface activity and similar composition, but
sunflower have higher phosphatidylcholine. Sunflower lecithin production needs dedicated
crushing plants because the seeds are smaller than soybeans. Generally, expellers are used to lessen
the oil content from 40% to 15%. Before degumming and lecithin processing the press cake is
solvent extracted and combined with the expelled oil. On the basis of seed weight yields of lecithin
are about 0.3%. The crude non degummed oil should be strictly filtered intensively to obtain
lecithin with low impurities[3]

Raw Material:

The raw material used for extraction of soy bean lecithin is main soya bean oil or seed the same
goes to sunflower that is we can used hydrated sunflower seeds or oil for lecithin production
Also interm of location the Sindh and Punjab urban areas are primary importance since the raw
material is very close and if we are going to use oil for are extraction we can directly take the oil
form industry and extract lecithin form it. Soya bean Sindh production is 31 tons in 2008-9 while
sunflower seeds production is 288393 tones for Sindh or 130510 for Punjab .however it is true that
sunflower seed production is greater them soybean but the lecithin content in soybean is too high
them sunflower around 15 to 40 percent also the cost for metric tons of seed that is for soybean is
95516.21 rupees per metric ton and for sunflower it is 337.36 us dollars per metric tone

As we Target to fulfill the requirements of Pakistan industry of lecithin it is necessary to insure it

quality therefore we can classified it in two types

1. Lecithin form Virgin oil that is oil that is extracted by compression will be used to make lecithin
for food and pharmaceutical company

2. Lecithin form solvent or hexane that lecithin can be used form textile and other Industries

Soy Bean PerYear Production:

1. 10. Uruguay (3.2 million metric tons)

2. 9. Bolivia (3.3 million metric tons)
3. 8. Ukraine (3.9 million metric tons)
4. 7. Canada (6.0 million metric tons)
5. Paraguay (10.0 million metric tons)
6. India (10.5 million metric tons)
7. 4. China (12.2 million metric tons)
8. 3. Argentina (53.4 million metric tons)
9. 2. Brazil (86.8 million metric tons)
10. USA (108.0 million metric tons)

Pakistan (1000 hectares of soybean are cultivated)

Potential Areas of Pakistan for Soybean:

Province District

Punjab Rawalpindi, Attock, Jhelum, Chakwal, Gujrat, Gujranwala, Sialkot,

Daska, Sheikhupura, Lahore, Kasur, Sahiwal, Okara, Vehari,
Khaniwal, Multan, Malsi
Sindh Nawabshah, Hyderabad, Sangar, Tharparker, Badin, Thatta
KhyberPakhtunkhwa Peshawar, Noshera, Mardan, Swabi, Malakand, Dir, Swat, Charsada,
Mansehra, Kohistan
Baluchistan Sibi, Kachi, Kalat, Khuzdar
 C HAPTER # 2

EXTRACTION OF LECITHINE FROM SOYBEAN OIL

Degumming;

Degumming is a process for the removal of phosphatides from crude soya bean oil to improve
physical stability and facilitate further processing. The phosphatides are also called gums or
lecithine.[1]

1.Water degumming

Water degumming is a simple process and hydrateable form is readily removed by the addition of
water but the nonhydratable phosphatides are unaffected and remain in the oil phase.

Batch and continuous process are similar but the major difference are describe below.

a.Batch process

In batch process, oil is heated to 70C , water is added and mixed for 30mint. The amount of water
added should be 75% of the phosphate content of the oil, After the hydration the oil and gums are
separated with a centrifuge.[1]

b.Continuous process

In continuous process, oil is preheated to 65C then treated with water and mixed in a hyderation
vessel sized for 45min retention time.The retention time cab be reduce to 1min with the use of in-
line agitator.Treat the hydrated oil very gently to avoid developing an emulsion.After hydration ,
centrifuge the oil to separate the gums from the oil .the gum pass to a wiped film evaporator to
become lecithin.

Too little water produce dark viscous gums and a hazy oil while too much water causes excess oil
losses through hydrolysis.the hydration temperature is important because degumming is
temperature sensitive, it is less complete at higher temperatures due to the increased solubility of
the phosphatides, and the increased viscosity at lower temperatures makes separation of the
phosphatides more difficult.[1]

2.Acid degumming;

Acid degumming process is a varient of the water degumming process in that it uses a comination
of acid and water. Acid degumming leads to a lower residual phosphorous content than water
degumming.[2]Phosphoric acid and citric acid are used because they are food grade and
sufficiently strong and they chelate divalent metal ions.[3]The gums isolated with acid degumming
are not suitable for standard lecithin because the phosphatides have ahigher phosphatidic acid and
the degumming acid is present.The oil is heated to 70C modified lecithin is mixed and the strong
solution of citric acid is added.After the reaction , the mixture is cooled to 40C and water is added
to promote the dissociation of the liberated free phosphatidic acid. A further 3hours holding time
provide to form liquid phosphatides crystals at this reduced temperature which are removed by a
centrifuge.[2]

3.Modified acid degumming;

It is a physical refining pretreatment that incorporates the benefit of caustic soda neutralization.
[4]This physical refining process treat the oil with adegumming acid and then partially neutralize
it with NaOH in solution.The amount of NaOH used is limited to prevent soap formation.The
NaOH raise the pH and converts the phospholipids into sodium salt that are hydratable.Then
hydratable salt can be centrifuged for adsorption on silica for removal with filtration.[3]

4.Enzymatic degumming;

It is a relatively new process. An enzyme,phospholipase convert phospholipids into

lysophospholipids that can be removed by centrifugation.[1]Crude oil is pretreated with
acombination of sodium hydroxide and citric acid is mixed with water and enzymes by a high
shear mixed creating a stable emulsion.The emulsion allows the enzymes to react with the
phospholipids transforming then into water soluble lysophospholipids.The emulsion is broken by
centrifugation, separating the gums and phospholipids from the oil.[2]

PURIFICATION OF LECITHIN;

Unrefined lecithin is fludized by adding 15-30% acetone under intensive agitator at 5 c.after
agitator of 30 minutes the mixture undergoes separation now agitation is stopped and lecithin is
separated in the form of layer. The oil micella is removed and solvent is evaporated and recycle
after condensation. This process of separation remains continue about two to three run or depends
upon the requirement. The reidue acetone is removed, dried and separated to produce powder or
granular lecithin.[4]

Due to sensitivity of acetone with environment, new technologies are being developed, in this
process highy viscous crude lecithin is fed into a separation column at specific level. In the super
critical extraction solvent flows through the column at the pressure 8MPa and temperature is
maintained at about 40-50C. the oil dissolved in solvent with little amount of lecithin, [4].

The mixture leaves the separation column and then the column is regenerated by increasing the
temperature up yo 75C, the lecithin is then precipitated out from the column.[4]
First the soybean oil and water form day tank 1and 2 are introduce by means of proproation pump
3 in the mixer 4 for homogenization and then introduce in the centrifuge 5 for separation of
degummed phospholipids and oil this oil is store in the storage vessel while viscous liquid is get
evaporated in evaporator 5 and then transfer to open tank mixer 8 through rotary pump aceton is
added to this mixer and then transfer to purifier 9 where aceton is separated through temperature
and then cooled down using cooler 10 and purified lecithin is send to storage

Material balance
On the bases of the 100 kg of soybean oil as we know the average content of the lecithin in oil is
about 15% also the water is added to about 2% of the total volume of the oil

100 kg of oil give 15 kg of lecithin

Also

100 kg of oil required 2 kg of water at 80 degree centigrade

Here the following result can be change according to the specific target that is for 50 kg of lecithin
333 kg of oil and 6.66 kg of water is required while for aceton for every 15 kg lecithin 8-10 kg of
aceton is required

Energy balance

15 kg of lecithin is produce by 100 kg of oil

2000 kg of lecithin is produce by (100 x 2000)/15 kg of oil

2000 kg of oil is produce by 13333 kg of oil

~ 13340 kg of oil

13340 kg of oil have to process in 24 hours

So, 13340/24 =555.8 kg of oil per hour

or 560 kg of oil per hour have to process

For our batch size, 280kg of oil processed in every 30 minutes

For oil

Mass flow rate of oil =m=280 kg per 30 minutes

Initial temperature =T1= 35 0C (approx. room temperature)

Final temperature=T2 = 75 0C

Change in temperature=∆T= 40 0C

Heat capacity = 1.69 kJ/kg oC

Heat flow rate is measured by the formula

Q= m Cp ∆T

Q=280 x 40 x 1.69 = 18928 kJ per 30 minutes

Flow rate of steam

Ms= (quantity of heat required)/(heat of evaporation)

Heat of evaporation= 2201.1kJ/kg ( at 2 bar)

• Ms= 18928/2201.1 = 8.6 kg of steam per 30 minutes Or Ms 19 lb of steam per 30

minutes

For boiler

1 lb of steam required 978.28 Btu of energy

38 lb of steam required =978.28 x 38

= 36870.64 Btu per hour

Or

= 38898.5 kJ per hour (as 1 Btu = 1.055 KJ )

~ 38900 kJ per hour

The calorific value of natural gas is 32230 kJ/m³

Boiler efficiency is 85% , so

27395.5 kJ of energy is produce by 1 m³ of natural gas

38900 kJ of energy is produce by ( 27395.5/38900) m³ of natural gas

=1.42 m³ of gas

Safety and hazard

In oil and gas sector or any other chemical or unit operation related industry there are number of
hazards related to this field. However, in general there are different form of hazard such as;
Physical hazard

Chemical hazard

Biological hazard

Mechanical hazard

Electrical hazard

Physiological hazard

Fire hazard

In our related industry during the extraction of lecithin form the oil there are different hazard but
in general the potency of the hazard to change into risk is very low. However, there are some
hazard related to this extraction

Physical hazard

Since oil is used oil splitting is general that is if oil split on the floor and due to slippery nature of
oil it may cause some accident therefor it is essential to insure no leakage in the reactor on in pipe
line in can be done by proper inspection on weekly bases and used proper silicon rubber seal in
pipe fitting to insure no leakage

Chemical hazard

In term of chemical hazard hot water and acetone can be consider not that much hazardous since
acetone can cause dizziness, vomiting, headache and skin irritant after long exposure hot water is
also hazard due to it energy or temperature and cause burning when contact with skin therefor for
water or stream pipe line color coding is used that is dark brown for indication of hazard also
proper ventilation is provided

Fire hazard

Acetone when mixed with air can oxidized iron and form explosive acetate which can lead to fire
explosion also oil can also take part once the fire started their for proper ventilation is required and
insure no acetone leakage form the evaporator

Other hazard

In term of biological hazard due to mixing of oil with hot water kills many bacteria also after
separating oil form gravity separator considerable amount of antibacterial agent can also be added
and for electrical and mechanical hazard proper PPE (PERSONAL PROTECTING EQUIPMENT)
are provided.
Location

There are different factor effecting the location of the plant location such as availability of labour,
availability of services, housing, infrastructure, raw material, climate and environment,
transportation etc. however as for our plant the location must be near the oil extraction plant which
are normally around fields of crops so that oil is directly taken form the oil sector and lecithin or
phospholipids are extracted and the by product that is oil is send for distribution. There are different
location available for oil such as

Province

Locations

Sindh

Hyderabad, Badin, Thatta

Punjab

Okara, Vehari, Multan, Attock, Jhelum

NWFP

Mardan, Swabi, Peshawar

Here the location for our plant in of Punjab since the corps production and soil fertility are to high
as compare to any other also in term of transportation it is also favorable also in terms of labour
cost and services and climate and environment also many oil extraction industries are present in
Punjab which ultimately make it good choices for plant

REFRENCES;

[1] P. Properties, “Lecithin 1.,” no. 1, 1868.

[2] W. Van Nieuwenhuyzen, “Lecithin production and properties,” J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., vol.
53, no. 6, pp. 425–427, 1976.
[3] B. F. Szuhaj, “Lecithin production and utilization,” J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc., vol. 60, no. 2,
pp. 306–309, 1983.
[4] L. Je-Ruie, W. Sheng-Yao, C. Ming-Ju, Y. Pei-Ying, and L. Chin-Wen, “The anti-allergenic
properties of milk kefir and soymilk kefir and their beneficial effects on the intestinal
microflora,” J. Sci. Food Agric., vol. 86, no. March, pp. 2527–2533, 2006.

[5] A. Wendel, “Lecithin,” Kirk-Othmer Encycl. Chem. Technol., no. 1, 2000.

[6] D. R. Erickson, Degumming and Lecithin Processing and Utilization. AOCS Press, 1995.
[7] G. R. List, Soybean Lecithin: Food, Industrial Uses, and Other Applications, no. 1913.
AOCS Press, 2015.