Commercially extracted crude rice bran oil (1.8% phospholipids) was degummed under a range of experimental conditions of water concentration, temperature, time and speed of agitation. Efficiency of degumming was evaluated based on the yield of dry gums, phospholipids and acetone insolubles in the gum. An orthogonal experimental design, with four variables (at five levels each) and three response functions, was employed to study the effect of the individual variables on the response functions. The response functions correlated with these variables (r greater than or equal to 0.925, p less than or equal to 0.01) by second order polynomials consisting of linear, quadratic and interaction terms. The effect of water added and temperature dominated over the other two variables. The optimum level of these variables for obtaining maximum magnitude of the response functions is reported. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ltd. All rights reserved.