Modelagem e análise do processo de degomagem no refino de óleo de soja

Abstract

The soybean oil production is an essential worldwide agribusiness sector. Brazil is a greater world producer of this product, but this country faces a powerful competition in the international market of other producing countries. To be competitive in this market, it is necessary to work intensively to produce oil with high quality and low operating cost. In industrial process, the degumming guarantees the separation of the gums present in the soybean oil. This paper has as principal aim to model and analyze the industrial degumming operation to enable the reduction of operational losses and the generation of a better quality of oil. To reach this objective, a detailed study of the process to check the influence of variables and parameters involved in degumming was made. Afterwards, the mathematical model of the process has been validated with operational data in the industry. Moreover, several simulations of this operation were conducted to determine the best conditions of the process. The results were satisfactory and the model developed represented well the degumming process.