Abstract

In order to understand the sources of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs) and the influence of the refining steps for soybean oils, soybeans, solvents and samples of the crude soybean oils and the corresponding neutralized, bleached and deodorized oil were collected online in a Chinese oil refinery and then analyzed for 12 different PAHs. PAHs are environmental carcinogenic compounds that may contaminate soybean oils due to contaminated soybeans and extraction solvents and their levels can be reduced by refining. The changes in PAH content in soybean oils at the various refining stages were investigated using a method based on HPLC with fluorescence detection. Soybeans, solvents and the crude soybean oils contained various amounts of PAHs. The PAH levels in the refined oils were considerably lower than those in the corresponding crude oils. An evident decrease in PAH content was observed during extraction, neutralization, bleaching and deodorization.

Keywords:

HPLC, Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons (PAHs), refined soybean oils, refining process,

References

Competing interests

The authors have no competing interests.

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The authors have no competing interests.