Spent bleaching earth oil (SBEO) brokerage

• Solvent extraction is the normal route. The spent earth is agitated with a solvent, commonly n-hexane, at moderate temperature, typically in the region of 35 to 50 degrees Celsius, for a matter of tens of minutes. Solids and liquid are separated and the solvent is recovered from the oil.
• Solvent choice changes the product. More polar solvents extract more, but they also pull across more free fatty acid, so a higher yield can mean a lower grade. That is a real commercial decision at the plant, and it is worth asking about when the FFA comes back higher than you expected.
• Other routes exist, including supercritical fluid extraction, membrane processes and subcritical water. They give better yields at lower temperature, at a capital cost most operators do not carry.
• Residual solvent is a question a buyer will ask. It is not in the table above because it is usually handled as a separate declaration, but a producer taking the material into hydrotreatment will want to know the extraction route and what is left behind.

Under the Annex IX framework, SBEO sits in the group that requires assessment rather than appearing as a straightforward listed feedstock. Our Annex IX feedstocks page sets out the full list and what each entry means.

In practice this is where value is won and lost. A cargo whose classification has been settled with the certification body and the receiving member state is a different commercial proposition from one where that conversation has not happened, and the gap between them is not small. The classification travels with the material, so settle it before you offer, not after a buyer has shown interest.

The certification side is ISCC EU with the correct scope. A supplier certified for used cooking oil does not automatically hold SBEO, and that is the gap that surfaces latest and hurts most. Our ISCC certificate scope page covers what to check on a certificate before you rely on it.

They travel under names that get used loosely, and mixing them up in an offer is the fastest way to lose credibility with a buyer who knows the difference.

• SBEO is recovered from the spent bleaching earth used in refining.
• SSAO, soapstock acid oil, comes from splitting the soapstock produced when caustic refining neutralises free fatty acids. Different stream, different plant, different classification.
• POME oil comes off palm oil mill effluent, at the mill rather than at the refinery.

The full picture, including a diagram of where each stream arises in palm oil processing, is on our POME, SBEO and SSAO page.

• The analysis, against the nine parameters above, with the methods named.
• When the earth was generated, and separately when the oil was extracted.
• The extraction route, and the solvent if solvent extraction was used.
• Monthly volume behind it, not the volume of the first parcel. A buyer with pretreatment capacity is planning a slate, not a trial.
• The certificate and its scope, and whether the Annex IX classification has been settled and with whom.
• Where it loads and in what, since parcel size narrows the buyer list faster than the specification does.