Influence of chemical refining on the major and minor components of rice brain oil

The effects of each individual step of the chemical refining process on major and minor components of rice bran oil were examined. In comparison with common vegetable oils, rice brain oil contains a significantly higher level of several bioactive minor components such as γ-oryzanol, tocotrienols, and phytosterols. Alkali treatment or neutralization results in a significant loss of oryzanol. In addition, it gives rise to a change in the individual phytosterol composition. After bleaching, some isomers of 24-methylenecycloartanol were detected. Because of their relatively high volatility, phytosterols and tocotrienols are stripped from the rice brain oil during deodorization and concentrated in the deodorizer distillate. At the same time, oryzanol is not volatile enough to be stripped during deodorization; hence, the oryzanol concentration does not change after deodorization. Complete refining removed 99.5% of the FFA content. Depending on the applied deodorization conditions, trans FA can be formed, but the total trans content generally remains below 1%.