γ-Oryzanol and tocopherol contents in residues of rice bran oil refining

Rice bran oil (RBO) contains significant amounts of the natural antioxidants γ-oryzanol and tocopherols, which are lost to a large degree during oil refining. This results in a number of industrial residues with high contents of these phytochemicals. With the aim of supporting the development of profitable industrial procedures for γ-oryzanol and tocopherol recovery, the contents of these phytochemicals in all the residues produced during RBO refining were evaluated. The samples included residues from the degumming, soap precipitation, bleaching earth filtering, dewaxing and deodorisation distillation steps. The highest phytochemical concentrations were found in the precipitated soap for γ-…