Real-World Results: Glycidyl Ester Reduction in Palm and Marine Oils with TRISYL® XGE Catalyst
Pressure is growing on edible and specialty oil refiners to reduce glycidyl esters (GEs) while maintaining oil quality and plant performance. What if you could achieve increasingly stringent GE limits without adding complexity, sacrificing throughput, or impacting product quality?
As regulatory requirements evolve, refiners are facing new requirements to reduce process contaminants while maintaining operational efficiency. For many producers, traditional GE mitigation approaches can require additional processing steps, increase waste generation, and create tradeoffs between compliance and productivity. Grace developed TRISYL® XGE catalyst to help customers eliminate those tradeoffs, so you can confidently meet GE specifications while preserving oil quality and maximizing refinery performance.
Real-world results say it best: the following case studies demonstrate how two refiners used TRISYL® XGE catalyst to reduce GE concentrations in different oils and operating conditions.
Case Study 1: Reducing GEs in Ethyl Ester Fish Oil
Ethyl ester fish oils are widely used in omega-3 nutraceutical formulations, but high-temperature processing steps such as molecular distillation can generate GEs. Grace’s customer, a fish oil producer, turned to us seeking a scalable solution to reduce GE levels while maintaining product quality and productivity.
Grace installed TRISYL® XGE catalyst in the customer’s fixed-bed reactor downstream of molecular distillation, then monitored performance over nine months at commercial production rates. Using the catalyst reduced average glycidol concentrations from approximately 3.7 ppm at the inlet to less than 0.36 ppm at the outlet, delivering an average removal efficiency of 90%.
Over a single bed cycle, the catalyst processed more than 1.1K metric tons of ethyl ester fish oil while maintaining strong GE reduction performance. The result was a reliable polishing solution that helped the producer meet stringent GE requirements, protect product quality, and support uninterrupted production.
Case Study 2: Reducing GEs in RBD Palm Oil
Palm-based oils are among the oil types where GEs can form at elevated levels during refining, creating regulatory and customer specification challenges.
To assist another producer in addressing those challenges, Grace conducted a one-month pilot trial of TRISYL®XGE catalyst at the customer’s commercial palm oil refinery. The result? TRISYL® XGE catalyst consistently reduced GE levels to ≤0.5 ppm across the 36-metric-ton throughput, exceeding the trial target of less than 0.7 ppm. Outlet GE concentrations remained stable despite fluctuations in feedstock quality, and no adverse effects on oil quality were observed.
Requiring less than two tons of catalyst for a 500 metric ton per day refinery, the trial also demonstrated that commercial implementation can be achieved with a relatively small catalyst inventory.
For palm oil refiners, this example demonstrates a practical and scalable approach to GE reduction that supports regulatory compliance, operational efficiency, and consistent product quality.
Why TRISYL® XGE Catalyst?
TRISYL® XGE catalyst helps refiners achieve stringent GE reduction targets while maintaining oil quality, improving productivity, and reducing operating costs. The technology can eliminate secondary treatment steps, reduce solid waste by up to 95%, lower energy and water consumption, minimize oil losses, and support high production rates without compromising product quality. With consistent contaminant reduction and the ability to integrate into existing refining operations – all backed by Grace’s global team of technical experts – TRISYL® XGE catalyst provides a scalable solution for meeting evolving regulatory and customer requirements.
It’s one more way Grace helps refiners confidently meet today's specifications and prepare for future market and regulatory demands – learn more about this innovative technology from Grace.