What Is Process Of Cooking Oil Refinery Plant

Crude vegetable  oil is inedible due to the presence of    harmful elements like  free fatty acids (FFA), gums, sediments, odoriferous and coloring materials. These need to be  removed completely to make the oil edible. Refined vegetable oil is sourced from    the seeds of various plant sources. The fats from plant seeds are polyunsaturated and are identified by  a chemical structure enabling   these  to stay  in fluid state at room temperatures , but also become quickly  rancidity through oxidation- that can also release   cancer-causing free radicals in the body. The refining process that removes these impurities  is a highly intensive mechanical and chemical process. 

Refining ensures the  removal of gums, waxes, phosphatides and free fatty acid (F. F.A.) from the oil and the process also impart uniform colour and eliminates unpleasant smell by removing  of odiferous matter. Refining is carried out in two ways a) Batch operation . It is usually carried out  for processing less than thirty tones of oil per 24 hours, or for oil with  F.F .A. content of 1 % and  less normally batch process is recommended. Batch process is normally preferred as it requires  low capital investment, simplicity of operation and low maintenance thus enabling a viable proposition even at low capacities of 10 TPD b)  continuous operation. Though chemical refining is widespread, physical refining is  carried out with certain oils . 

The multiple steps involved are :

 

Degumming / Neutralization

A process of removing phospholipids- that  can lead to dark colored, off -flavor oil in order to improve its physical stability and facilitate further refining.

Continuous Bleaching

“Bleaching” is a process of selective removal of  Color pigments, Dirt, Trace metals, Removal of polycyclic Aromatic compounds, Phospholipids and other  impurities by the physical and chemical interaction of an adsorbent with an oil or fat to improve its quality.

Deodorization

Deodorization is a physical vacuum stripping process wherein  a given amount of a stripping agent (usually steam) is passed for a given period of time through hot oil at a low pressure to remove  volatile components. However, since it is usually carried out at high temperature (220 to 250°C), some chemical, thermal effects may take place as well.

MECTECH ADVANTAGE :

DEGUMMING

Mectech chooses customized degumming processes based on methods of processing, chemicals used and the content of phosphatides in the crude vegetable oil.

BLEACHING 

●       MECTECH's customized  design of bleacher requires no mechanical agitation and bleaching is carried out under optimum conditions of moisture content to achieve perfect results - thus saving on  power consumption.

●       MECTECH's customized  design of bleacher prevents  leakages from gland system and almost maintenance free. b) avoids dead area &  lower consumption of bleaching earth. c) guarantees better and consistent quality d)  ensures minimum heat energy requirement.

DEODORIZATION

●       Most efficiently designed oil to oil heat exchanger fitted in last tray of Deodorizer

●       Elaborate and efficient design of fatty acid scrubbing recovery system prevents charring of oil during the process.