UNITED STATES DEPARTMENT OF AGRICULTURE 



BULLETIN No. 1010 



Contribution from the Bureau of Plant Industry 

 WM. A. TAYLOR, Chief 



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Washington, D. C. 



PROFESSIONAL PAPER 



April 3, 1922 



THE PREPARATION OF AN EDIBLE OIL FROM 

 CRUDE CORN OIL. 



By A. F. Sievers, Chemical Biologist, and J. H. Shrader, formerly Chemical Technol- 

 ogist, Drug, Poisonous, and Oil Plant Investigations. 



CONTENTS. 



Scope of the investigations 1 



Small-quantity experiments on methods of 

 refining corn oil 2 



Comparative refining qualities of corn oil 

 from dry and wet process germs 14 



Refining 10-pound hatches of corn oil to de- 

 termine the cost of the chemicals used and 

 the value oftheoillost 16 



Estimated total cost of refining corn oil 18 



Chemicals and loss of oil 18 



Fuel '. 20 



Labor 20 



O verhead -20 



Description of the equipment and the method 



ofhandling corn oil intherefinery 21 



Summary 25 



SCOPE OF THE INVESTIGATIONS. 



In a study made in 1919 of the production of corn oil in the 

 United States/ in the course of which special attention was given to 

 the manuf acture of corn products as practiced in the so-called hominy 

 mills and* in starch and glucose plants, the fact developed that 

 although there were 22 plants in the country which produced corn 

 oil, only four of these were equipped at that time for producing 

 refined edible oil from the crude product. The four plants refined 

 not only the oil produced in their own mills but also a large proportion 

 of that produced by other operators. There is now, however, a 

 tendency among the smaller operators to consider the feasibility of 

 refining their own crude oil, and consequently interest has been 

 manifested in the refining process. 



As a general rule, vegetable oils are refined 2 by a process consisting 

 of three main operations: (1) Neutralizing the free fatty acids and 



1 Sievers, A. F. The production and utilization of corn oil in the United States. U. S. Dept. Agr. Bui. 

 904, 23 p., 11 fig. 1920. 



2 The term "refining" as used in this bulletin refers to the complete process of purification of the oil and 

 not to the alkali treatment only, in which sense it is frequently used, 



67251°— 22— Bull. 1010 1 



