Sarfaraz Ahmed Mahesar

National Centre of Excellence in Analytical Chemistry, University of Sindh,

Jamshoro-76080, Pakistan

Email: sarfaraz.mahesar@usindh.edu.pk

Edible oils and fats are important constituents of our diet, which provide energy and act as a carrier of fat soluble vitamins. When oil is extracted from oilseeds, it’s known as crude oil.  This oil cannot be used directly for cooking purpose because it contains undesirable components such as pigments, free fatty acids, metals, gums, waxes, phospholipids and odoriferous materials. These components must be removed from oil to get a stable product with a bland taste. Physical and chemical refining processes are carried out for purification of crude vegetable oils and these includes degumming, neutralization, bleaching and deodorization. Spent bleaching clay (SBC) is a waste material produced as part of the refining process (bleaching) in the vegetable oil industry. This waste material contains 20 to 40 % oil by weight and dumped in landfills without any treatment. Current study was carried out to check the quality of oil present in SBC and its FTIR characterization during 40 days of storage.