ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY

COLLEGE OF ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY

DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING
FOOD ENGINEERING STREAM
COURSE TITLE: FOOD PROCESS TECHNOLOGY I
COURSE CODE: ChEg5241
GROUP ASSIGNMENT NUMBER ONE
ASSIGNMENT ON OIL EXTRACTION PROCESS TECHNOLOGY
PREPARED BY: NETWORK FIVE

S No. NAME ID No. SECTION

1. ALEBACHEW ASHAGRIE RET 0096/06 ONE

2. GIZEWORK BAYE RET 0647 / 06 TWO

3. JEMAL SEID RET 0834/06 ONE

4. NUGUS DEGU RET 1215/06 ONE

4. MOHAMMED MEKIN EBRAHIM RET 1142/06 TWO

5. SEID ARAGAW RET 1285/06 ONE

SUBMITTED TO: Mr. TSEGAY H. (M.Sc. In Food Engineering)

SUBMISSION DATE: MONDAY, DECEMBER 15, 2017 G.C.

ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Acknowledgment
Our praise goes to Almighty God for the strength He bestows on us throughout the development
of this assignment work. Then we would like express our gratitude to our instructor Tsegay Hailu
for giving this assignment, support, and guidance for the accomplishment of this work.

Finally, we would like to extend our deepest gratitude to our intimate friends who support us by
their electronic facilities and our classmates for flow of their ideas.

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 ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Contents Page
Acknowledgment ............................................................................................................................. I

1. OIL EXTRACTION PROCESS TECHNOLOGY ..................................................................... 1

1.1. Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 1

1.2. Handling and storage ............................................................................................................ 1

1.3. Oil seed preparation ............................................................................................................. 3

1.3.1. Cleaning ......................................................................................................................... 3

1.3.2. Seed Drying ................................................................................................................... 4

1.3.3. Dehulling ....................................................................................................................... 4

1.3.4. Size Reduction and Flaking ........................................................................................... 5

1.3.5. Cooking/ tempering ....................................................................................................... 5

1.4. Mechanical Extraction.......................................................................................................... 6

1.5. Solvent Extraction ................................................................................................................ 7

1.6 Oil Refining ......................................................................................................................... 12

1.6.1. Degumming, lecithin processing and physical refining pre treatment ........................ 12

1.6.2. Caustic Refining .......................................................................................................... 14

1.6.3. Bleaching ..................................................................................................................... 14

1.6.4. Deodorization .............................................................................................................. 15

1.7. Filling and Packing............................................................................................................. 16

1.7.1 Packaging...................................................................................................................... 16

1.7.2. Fillers –sealer ............................................................................................................... 16

1.8. Summary ............................................................................................................................ 17

1.9. Reference ............................................................................................................................ 18

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ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

1. OIL EXTRACTION PROCESS TECHNOLOGY

1.1. Introduction
Oil production from different sources is important to provide oil for the use as food or in several
technical applications, such as fuel, lubricants, or raw material for the production of chemical
products. Oils are essential components of all plants. However, commercial oil production
facilities only utilize plants that accumulate large amounts of oil and are readily available.
Currently, the largest source of commercial oils is oilseeds: the seeds of annual plants such as
soybean, canola, rapeseed, cottonseed, sunflower, peanut, castor and flax. The second largest
source of plant oils includes coconut, palm, olive and tung oil.

Oil seed handling, Oil seed Mechanical or Oil refining

preparation solvent
Storage and pre-
Extraction
treatment
Filling and
Figure 1: The General flow diagram of oil process technology packing

1.2. Handling and storage

Oilseeds are shipped like any other grain, either in railroad cars or trucks, and received at
elevators. Physical properties of the seeds, such as size, shape, bulk density and flow ability
affect the design of oilseed handling facilities. For example, canola, rapeseed, delinted
cottonseed, soybean and sunflower have very good flow ability. They are usually stored in
vertical cell-like storage bins. Copra (dried meat or kernel of the coconut) and undelinted
cottonseed do not flow well. Hence, vertical bins are not suitable for this type of seeds. Copra is
stored in large flat warehouses. Storage bins can be built of stainless steel, concrete, tile or other
material. Vertical bins are preferred where ambient temperature is low. Concrete bins are used at
places where average outside temperature is relatively high (35-45 degrees celsius).

Proper handling and storage of oil-containing materials are very important to minimize
deterioration and maintain good quality of both contained oil and meal. Whole, intact, low-
moisture oilseeds (about 8-10 percent moisture) may be stored for an extended time under
suitable conditions.

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ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

Deterioration of oilseeds is accompanied by respiration or carbon dioxide evolution and heat

generation by oxidation reactions. Sound, intact seeds may release less than 10 cm3 of carbon
dioxide per gram of seed per day, while damaged, high moisture seeds may release 50 cm3 or
more of carbon dioxide per gram of seed per day. Furthermore, heat generation by oxidation
reactions may increase the temperature of stored seed, accelerating deterioration even to the
point of charring the seeds. Activity of native enzymes present in oilseeds, infestation by insects
and mites along with microbial activity during storage also are important factors affecting oil and
meal quality. In general, high moisture content (above 14-15 percent moisture) in seeds has an
adverse effect on oil and meal quality. Oil splitting, or acid generation, may be accelerated by
microbial growth (mold and/or bacterial growth) and enzyme activity in high-moisture seeds. Oil
in mature seeds may contain about 0.5 percent free fatty acids. However, if seeds are damaged
mechanically or by frost or become wet during harvest, handling and storage, then the acidity of
oil can be much higher.

Sprouting, considered a damage factor, is another important issue during storage of high-
moisture seeds. Sprouted seeds may have lower oil and higher free fatty acid content as
compared to sound seeds. Today, air dryers are essential components of modern storage facilities
to maintain oilseed quality. Most oilseed storage bins are equipped with aeration ducts and
ventilation blowers to cool the seeds. Since oxidation reactions are aerobic processes, a low
oxygen atmosphere in storage bins helps to slow down oxidation and quality deterioration.
Mature seeds can be stored longer than immature seeds because of the lower activity of oil-
splitting enzymes in mature seed.

Proper storage of harvested oilseeds also may contribute to desirable changes. For example, oil
extraction yields from fresh soybeans can be lower than for soybeans stored more than five
months. The storage of soybeans also decreases the chlorophyll content of green beans.
Chlorophyll is not desirable in edible oils and needs to be removed during the oil refining
process.

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ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

1.3. Oil seed preparation

Unit operations for preparation of seeds for oil extraction vary slightly depending on the physical
properties and oil content (Figure 2). However, most oilseeds go through the process of cleaning,
drying, dehulling, size reduction, flaking, cooking and tempering.

Scale Dehulling
Cleaning Drying Cracking

To mechanical
Extraction Conditioning Flaking
/ Tempering
To solvent
Extraction

Figure 2: process flow diagram of Oil seed preparation

1.3.1. Cleaning
Oilseeds need to be cleaned to remove plant stems, sticks, leaves and foreign material
before storage. Such material may decompose and cause heating in stored seed mass
diminishing oil and meal quality. Foreign materials in seeds are typically separated out by a
combination of rotating or vibrating coarse screens, reels and aspiration.

This process is commonly referred to as scalping. Sand and dirt also are removed by fine
screening. Magnetic devices remove metal contaminants from seeds. Plate magnets, drum
magnets or electromagnets installed over conveyor belts are commonly used. Some oilseeds such
as peanuts may contain stones which are similar in size to the seeds. Hence, they cannot be
separated by screening. Seeds need to be separated from stones by gravity. Special “destoners”
are available to remove stones and mud balls.

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ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

1.3.2. Seed Drying

The moisture content of oilseeds often needs to be reduced to minimize degradation in storage
and to improve the effectiveness of downstream processing. For example, soybeans are often
received at 13 percent moisture and need to be dried to 10 percent moisture to facilitate efficient
hull removal. Large, vertical, open-flame grain dryers can be used for oilseeds as well. These
dryers have multiple columns of oilseeds which slowly migrate downward. The upper portion of
the column is used for drying and lower section is for cooling.

1.3.3. Dehulling
The amount of hull on oilseeds varies significantly. The percentage of hulls for cotton seed,
sunflower seeds and soybean are 45, 25 and 7 percent, respectively. Hulls and shells of oilseeds
do not contain a significant amount of oil (less than 1 percent). Most oilseeds need to be
separated from their outer husk or shell prior to oil extraction. Dehulling also is referred to as
shelling or decorticating. Dehulling increases oil production efficiency, capacity of the extraction
equipment and reduces wear in the expeller as the husks are abrasive. If not removed, hulls
reduce the total oil yield by absorbing or retaining oil in the pressed cake. Furthermore, wax and
color compounds present in the hulls end up in the extracted oil. These compounds are not
desirable in edible oils and need to be removed during the refining process. Dehulling reduces
fiber and increases protein content of the meal.

There are numerous dehuller designs to choose from depending upon the types of seeds. Knife,
disk and impact type dehullers are widely used. For example an impact dehuller, which is
commonly used for sunflower seeds, consists of a rotating blade that drives seeds into a hard
material outside the diameter of the blades. The force of impact causes the hulls to break. Then,
seeds are separated by using shaking conveyor belts, multiple sifting screens or vacuum.
Dehulling efficiency of a system often is measured by the residual fiber content in the meal and
the residual oil content in the hulls. The industry standards for soybeans are less than 3.5 percent
fiber content remaining in the meal and less than 1.5 percent oil content remaining in the hull.

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ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

1.3.4. Size Reduction and Flaking

Most oilseeds are reduced in size to facilitate hull removal, heating, drying and flaking prior to
oil extraction. Canola, rapeseed and corn germ do not require size reduction as they are already
sufficiently small. Cracking mills are used for seed size reduction. A cracking mill consists of
two sets of cylindrical corrugated rolls in series. The rolls rotate at differential speeds to break
apart seed cells containing oil. High capacity cracking mills can process up to 1,000 tons per day
of oilseeds. Oilseeds also can be flaked prior to solvent extraction.

Flaking ruptures seed cellular structure and reduces the distance that solvent has to travel to
reach the oil in the cells. A flaking mill has two large diameter rolls turning in opposite direction
and forced together by hydraulic cylinders. As the seeds are pulled through the flaking mill, they
are stretched and flattened. Typical flake thickness is in the range of 0.01-0.015 inch or 0.25-0.37
mm. flaking of oilseeds also increases surface area for increased contact between solvent and
seed during the solvent extraction process. Oil from the cracked or flaked seeds should be
extracted as quickly as possible (within 24 hours) to minimize meal and oil quality deterioration.
Flaking mills, which can process 300 to 500 tons of seeds per day, are available.

1.3.5. Cooking/ tempering

Oilseeds are cooked or tempered to denature proteins, release oil from the cells and inactivate
enzymes. For example, rapeseed contains the enzyme myrosinase. This enzyme catalyzes
hydrolysis of glucosinolates which are naturally present in rapeseed. During the hydrolysis
process, undesirable compounds such as isothiocyanates and nitriles form. These compounds are
soluble in oil and lower the quality of oil. Rapeseed is cooked in multistage cookers to keep the
glucosinolates intact and inactivate the myrosinase. Rapeseed is preheated to 68-122 degrees
Fahrenheit in less than 5 minutes and contacted with live steam at 248 degrees Fahrenheit. Since
canola has much lower levels of glucosinolates than that of conventional rapeseed varieties the
cooking temperature for canola is lower (less than 100 oC). Cooked seeds are immediately
pressed to separate oil. Cooking also gives seeds proper elasticity for efficient pressing. Cooking
at high temperature is not necessary for sunflower seeds. Cracked and dehulled soybeans are
conditioned/tempered by increasing the temperature to 65 OC and adjusting the moisture by using
live steam. Conditioning is done in rotating drums with an internal steam coil. Tempering
improves flaking performance and extraction efficiency.

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ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

1.4. Mechanical Extraction

Mechanical extraction operation is generally the same as that in the preparation area; many
processors locate the pressing operation in the same building as the preparation process. In the
pressing plant, the seed is subjected to extreme heat and pressure with oil mechanically forced
from the oil cell. A typical pressing operation involves cooking, pressing, cake cooling and
finishing and oil filtration.

Like most processes, the operation and configuration of almost every plant is different, and while
the following description refers to generic pressing operations, the reader is reminded that there
are many variances in the system design. In this generic operation, pressed meats from the
flakers enter a vertical stacked agitated cooker where heat is applied and protein is denatured.

After the cooker, the hot meats enter a mechanical press, where roughly 60% of the available oil
(nearly 90% for full press operations) is removed by application of intensive mechanical
pressure. The cake passes through the end plate, where through the application of the high
friction, it has been cooked, compressed and often quite hard, while the extracted oil exists
through drainage bars in the press. After the pressing operation, the cake is normally broken and
cooled, with the pre-pressed cake usually sent to the solvent extraction plant for final oil
removal. Where economics do not permit solvent extraction, a higher degree of oil removal is
performed in the press plant (known as full press operation), with the cake used directly as
animal feed. As the material is the subjected to great heat during the operation, naturally
occurring urease activity is inactivated and protein is denatured, making the product suitable for
feed purposes.

Oil from mechanical pressing operation usually contains a high concentration of meal fines,
which are removed in a screening tank followed by a pressure leaf or plate and frame filter, prior
to delivering the crude oil to the refining process. The quality of this oil may be higher than that
obtained from solvent extraction, as oil-soluble impurities (such as phosphatides, etc.) are
removed. In fact, oil from some pressing operations (such as olive or evening orimrose) is
suitable for direct consumption without additional processing. Removed fines are collected and
typically recycled back to the press inlet.

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ADIGRAT UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF CHEMICAL ENGINEERING

A great number of variations may be used in the pressing operation. As indicated earlier,
expanders may be used either before the press or, in some instances, after the press or, in some
instances, after the press to agglomerate fine and provide consistency to the solvent extraction
operation. Material entering the cooker may be flaked, as indicated above, or may be rolled seed
with flaking operations taking place on the cake after the press.

Flaked cake Sovent

Cooking Extrusion Cake Cake

Oilseed Oil cooling sizing Extraction

Settling
Cake
grinding
Filtration
To storage

To the refinery To market

Figure 3: Process flow diagram of Mechanical extraction of oil process

There are four primary reasons why the mechanical extraction process is still selectively used.
First, the mechanical extraction process can be furnished in very small scale, as low as 10 tons
per day. The capital cost for small mechanical extraction facilities is considerably less than small
solvent extraction facilities. In remote locations, freight differential can compensate for higher
operating costs and lower yields. Second, there is a niche, high-value market for natural oils that
have not been in contact with solvents or chemicals, requiring the use of mechanical extraction.
Third, mechanical extraction can create a high bypass protein meal for ruminant animals that
sells at a price premium over solvent extracted meal. Finally, mechanical extraction is often
considered more reliable than solvent extraction when processing difficult materials (copra and
palm kernel) in hot, tropical climates.

1.5. Solvent Extraction

After leaving the preparation process, the flakes are delivered to the solvent extraction operation,
as this process typically uses a flammable solvent (and is classified as a hazardous flammable
environment), the operation is usually somewhat removed from other facilities, and access to the
controlled area is restricted.

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The typical unit operation associated with solvent extraction, which includes extraction, solvent
distillation, and liquid phase recovery. Upon discharge from the extractor, solid phase extracted
material is desolventized, toasted, dried, and cooled prior to meal finishing.

In the extractor, this is a counter current flow device, the solid material moves in an opposite
direction of solvent – miscella with an increasing oil concentration.

Solvent
separation

Flaked Miscella Distillation Oil Miscella to deguming

Extractor
refining
Oilseed Refining

Desolventizing/
toasting

Sizing Storage To loadout

Drying/Cooling

Grinding

Figure 4: Process flow diagram of solvent extraction of oil process

Temperature control is extremely important during the extraction process. As extractability is

enhanced with high temperatures, the operator generally desires to keep temperatures as high as
possible without flashing the solvent or crating excess pressure in the extractor. However,
phospholiapase enzyme activity affects the oil quality at these elevated temperature conditions,
partially causing an increase in non-hydratable phosphatides.

While this trade-off is generally not a problem, when processing field-damaged seed it may be
necessary to reduce extraction temperature, sacrificing residual fats somewhat, in order to
produce oil that can be acceptably processed without undue refining losses. As mentioned
earlier, several processes have been developed to help inactive enzyme activity prior to
extraction.

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While hexane is widely accepted as the most effective solvent used today, there are concerns
about its flammability, exposure, and environmental impacts. Research has focused on various
alternative solvents in the hopes of finding one with acceptable performance while providing
grater safety. Alternative solvents that have received some attention include isopropyl alcohol,
supercritical carbon dioxide, and other fluids. However, no economical alternative to n-hexane
has been accepted at this point, and the best available control technology emphasizes
containment and limiting fugitive hexane emissions.

The desolventized meal contains high amount of urease activity (measured as pH rise) that is
detrimental for certain animal feeding purposes. Under condition of heat, moisture, and retention
time this enzyme is inactivated, and these variables provide the basis of control for the DT
operation. After the desolventizing section, the solid-phase material passes through a series of
steam-jacketed heating trays that provide the environment necessary for toasting.

The DT is one of the largest single energy users in the solvent extraction operation. The
desolventizing process is also responsible for the bulk of solvent separation and recovery. As
much of the DT steam is sparged in direct contact with the meal, with the condensate not
recoverable, much attention has been focused on the efficiencies and economies of this unit
operation.

New technology has been developed to minimize the amount of sparge steam and provide greater
counter current contacting of the vapors with the meal. One extramly popular concept is the
Schumacher DT, which provides true counter flow contact of the vapour and solid streams.
Rather than perform desolventizing exclusively in the top section of the DT, the counter flow
design allows maximum effective vapour contact with the material throughout the unit. Recent
modifications to the counter flow DT have included addition of pre-desolventizing steam-heated
surfaces prior to the DT inlet as an inexpensive way to improve the dry heat-spared steam ratio.

After the traditional DT, the meal may contain in excess of 18% of moisture and may be 100 OC
or hotter. As trading rules and practical handling conditions do not allow for these types of
conditions, the meal must be dried and cooled prior to storage and load out. Traditional drying
methods have utilized a slowly rotating steam-tubed kilnlike dryer or other device with forced
aeration to reduce the moisture to proper storage levels. After drying the meal still contains

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excessive heat, which is removed by another rotary kiln where cooling takes place either through
indirect contact with cooling water or by exposure to large amount of air. Not only is this
equipment energy and maintenance intensive but introduces a number of environmental
problems with particulate emissions even with high efficiency cyclones. Wet scrubbing
equipment has been introduced on some airstreams to collect much of the fugitive emissions, but
the resulting high biological oxygen demand (BOD) loads in the scrubber effluent must be dealt
with in an environmentally acceptable manner. Quite often this effluent is introduced into the
plant meal or mill feed stream for moisture correction prior to load out.

Using the same concept as the counter flow DT, the integrated dryer-cooler (DC) reduce energy
consumption and combines function in to a single vertical stacked unit. Toasted hot meal enters
the dryer section, where hot air is passed counter flow through the meal bed, removing excess
moisture. The meal then passed through the cooler section, where the temperature is reduced by
a counter current fresh airflow.

The DT and DC function can be further integrated in a single vessel (DTDC), not only reducing
space and initial capital requirements but energy and operating costs as well.

Of obvious concern in any DT application is the potential for overtoasting the meal and
adversely affecting the water solubility of the protein, often expressed in terms of the protein
dispersion index (PDI). For certain edible flour and other applications demand a high PDI; the
DTDC may be replaced with a flash desolventizing system. These systems, which typically use
superheated solvent to evaporate volatiles present in the freshly extracted white flakes, maintain
the high PDI while desolventizing the feedstock.

After cooling, the meal is screened to separate large particles from those of acceptable size. This
screener is typically either a multi-layered inclined reciprocating bed screener or based around a
continuously brushed cylindrical screen. Large meal particles (or balls) are ground in hammer
mill and resifted prior to being blended back in to the meal stream. At this point, it is common to
add mill feed, the mixture of hulls and other materials removed earlier in the process and a flow
ability agent, such as calcium carbonate prior to storage. Meal storage can be provided by
placement either in concrete or steel tanks and silos or, for longer storage period, a flat storage
facility.

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It is important that meal placed in storage be low in moisture and well cooled. It is common
practice to limit silo storage to 2-3 days, but longer storage period have proven acceptable with
occasional meal transfer, or “turning.” As the meal is loaded in to customer transport, it is
common to add water for moisture adjustment. For certain markets, the meal is passed through a
pellet mill directly after the meal dryer. This not only increases the bulk density of the material,
allowing for lower shipping costs, but also eliminates the grinding and sizing operations.

Belt dryers are normally installed after the pellet mills to cool the product for storage and
shipping.

Upon exiting the extractor, the miscella is passed through a series of distillation equipment to
separate the oil and recover the solvent. The process usually involves a series of falling film
evaporators and stills with the miscella on the tube side and vapours on the shell side. The first
effect evaporator, using steam and solvent vapours liberated from the DT, concrete the miscella
from around 28% up to 80% or higher. The miscella then passes to the to the second-stage
evaporator, typically operating at atmospheric or vacuum conditions, where the miscella
concentration is increased up to 95 – 98% oil. Finally, the miscella enters the oil stripper or still,
which, operating at 50 mmHg abs or less, removes most of the remaining volatiles. The oil
typically leaves the extraction plant at this stage with moisture and volatiles (M&V) less than
0.15% or passes through a second oil dryer or “super stripper” to obtain very low M&V oil. The
oil is then cooled and sent to storage. It is extremely important to minimize moisture levels in the
final oil, as phosphatides have a great affinity for residual moisture and will separate as gums
from the crude oil in the presence of moisture. In fact one processor considered introducing
water in the oil leaving the processing facilities and using its long term storage tanks essentially
as batch degumming vessels, decanting the top phase as degummed oil. In practice, this plan was
rejected, as the heavy phase gums can be quite difficult to remove from transport vessels and
storage tanks, and excessive deposition may result in rejection of an oil shipment. Moisture
retained in crude oil can also increase the free fatty acid (FFA), and corresponding neutral oil
loss, under certain storage condition.

Miscella refining of some oil, especially cotton seed, has gained great popularity in recent years.
In this process, caustic is add to the half miscella between the first and second effect evaporator,
and the mixed is subjected to centrifugation separation.

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The refined light-phase miscella continues on to the distillation system while the heavy phase
soap stock is blended back in the mill stream in the DT. Although there is a legitimate concern
about locating high-speed centrifugal equipment in hazardous environment, there are substantial
benefits to be considered. A major advantage, especially with cotton seed, is that colour bodies
are removed before they are “set” in the oil by exposure to high temperature distillation
equipment. Not only is the oil of excellent quality, but refining losses are considerable lower
than the traditional methods. Other advantages include elimination of the water washing system,
and a convenient disposal means for the soap stock. While the miscella refining typically
requires a half miscella concentration of about 60% oil, with a resulting higher hydraulic load
trough the centrifuge, the difference in specific gravity between the two phases is substantial,
allowing very high capacity through the centrifuge. Additional miscella processing has been
practiced, including miscella bleaching and fractionation.

1.6 Oil Refining

1.6.1. Degumming, lecithin processing and physical refining pre treatment

Degumming may be considered the first step in the refining process, especially for processor
with integral gums disposal options, and is designed to remove the phosphatides that interfere
with subsequent processing. The degumming process is not mandatory process; as the
phosphatides can generally be effectively remove in subsequent process. In fact, some processor
prefer to refine crude oil than crude-degummed oil as better “break” is obtained in some older
style centrifuges.

If lecithin is produced for edible purpose, the crude oil is first filtered to remove meal fines and
other insoluble impurities. For straight degumming purposes (without lecithin production), the
fine from a well-maintained facility are generally not a major problem for centrifugal removal.
The oil continues to hydration, where a rationed amount of softened water is added to the oil,
intimately mixed, and then introduced in gently agitated hydration tank. During this retention
period, the gums agglomerates and begin to separate from the oil phase. The mixture is then
gently delivered to the centrifuges, with the light phase oil passed through the moisture dryer,
cooled, and finally delivered to storage.

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When not used as lecithin, the heavy-phase gums can be re-introduced in to the meal stream
through the DT, adding energy to the meal and assisting with dust control. When sold as non-
food grade lecithin, the gums are simply dried from 35 – 50% moisture concentration and used
either as a plastic, high Acetone Insoluble (AI) product, or blended with either degummed oil or
distilled fatty acids for consumption as fluid product.

To Loadout

Drying
Water

Crude Filtration Oil

Blending Hydration Centrifuge

Oil Solid Acid Separation

Gums
To bleaching
Peroxide caustic refining
Bleaching

Drying

Fatty Acid To load out

Storage
/Blending

Figure 5: Flow diagram Degumming and lecithin processing

Degumming is an integral part of the physical refining operation, which will see continued
growth in response to environmental pressures. While the basic of the degumming process have
been largely unchanged for several years, new membrane separation systems have been gaining
recent attention. Past problem of plugging may be solved by new filter media, miscella filtration,
or evolution of self-cleaning designs.

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1.6.2. Caustic Refining

Refining is the term liberally applied to the processes designed to neutralize free fatty acids
present in the oil by introduction of an alkali and centrifugal separation of the heavy-phase
insoluble material. Refining is also associated with removal of phospholipids, color bodies, and
other soluble and insoluble impurities. The term refining can be applied to physical and chemical
operations as they both are designed to perform much of the same tasks. As physical refining
operations are generally incorporated into degumming, bleaching, and deodorizing system (also
known as steam refining system), descriptions of these processes are integrated into discussions
of these areas.

Caustic refining is also less sensitive to the type of feed stock presented, as a system designed for
one oil will generally produce satisfactory results with other oils. Caustic refining does have led
to development of the alternate process, such as physical or steam refining.

1.6.3. Bleaching
Bleaching is the term given to describe the adsorptive cleaning process associated with edible oil
refining. This process may involve acid pretreatment, introduction of a retention period with a
bleaching agent, and removal of the clay and absorbed materials. While the mechanical process
is on the surface rather simple, the importance of the bleaching operation commands significant
attention.

Bleaching of oil by the use of adsorbents is necessary not only for physical refining or
hydrogenation but also for the processing of bottled edible oils. The objective of this step is to
remove colored compounds such as chlorophylloids and carotenoids, and also soaps, oxidation
products, and other minor compounds which are retained on the absorptive material. Especially
the removal of chlorophyll is necessary since it acts as a photo-sensitizer catalyzing the oxidation
of oil in light. Bottled edible oils often are presented in clear glass bottles in the stores, which
give no protection against light. Thus, a low concentration of chlorophyll is important to enlarge
the shelf life of the oil. Additionally, higher amounts of chlorophyll result in an undesired dark
green color of the oil. Since rapeseed oil contains significant high levels of chlorophylloids, the
removal of these compounds from the oil is more difficult than for other oils. Carotenoids and
other colored compounds are removed from the oil only in small amounts during bleaching.

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More effective is deodorization through high-temperature thermal destruction of the compounds

by heat treatment and the oils become brighter and less reddish yellow colored. The bleaching
process is especially important if physical refining is carried out, because it is the last chance to
remove residual phosphatides, soaps, metals, or oxidation products prior to deodorization. These
compounds have a direct effect on the organoleptic evaluation and the oxidative stability of the
resulting oil.

Different types of bleaching processes and sorts of clays are in use. The main types are batch
bleaching, suitable for small plants with small throughput of oil, and continuous bleaching,
which is commonly used in most plants. As absorptive materials, in most cases, acid-activated
clays are used, which are obtained from inactive aluminum silicates (bentonite, montmorillonite,
and attapulgite), activated by mineral acids such as sulfuric or hydrochloric acid, washed and
dried to a moisture content of 10–15%. The activation process results in the enlargement of the
available surface and in the reduction of the metal content of the clay which improves the
absorptive activity of the material.

1.6.4. Deodorization
The last step in purification of crude oil in large-scale plants is deodorization. The main objective
of this step is to remove all compounds which negatively influence the taste and odor of the oil.
This is the typical taste and smell of the seed material from which the oil is derived, e.g., in the
case of rapeseed oil seed-like and sometimes pungent mustard-like attributes or in the case of
sunflower oil sunflower-seed like or fruity. Additionally, products formed during the processing,
e.g., bleaching and hydrogenation, are also removed. The result is oil, neutral in taste and smell,
only light yellow colored, and low in free fatty acids with a good stability. Therefore,
deodorization often is carried out after hydrogenation if the fatty acid composition of the oil
should be changed. Another effect of deodorization is heat bleaching of colored carotenoid
compounds or other pigments at higher temperatures as mentioned above. Last but not least,
deodorization is an important step in physical refining to remove free fatty acids.

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The material removed from the edible oil is usually recovered in a scrub cooler where it is
separated from the steam. Depending on the composition, a further use of the deodorizer
distillate, the material collected from the steam distillation, is meaningful. The value of this
distillate depends on the procedure applied for refining and the conditions used during
deodorization. Distillates from physical refining mainly consist of free fatty acids and a lower
amount of unsaponifiable matter. It can be used for feed industry if the amounts of pesticides are
low enough. Distillates from chemical refining are more valuable because they often contain
higher amounts of to copherols which can be recovered for the production of vitamin E. On the
other hand, higher amounts of tocopherols and sterols make the use of the distillates from
rapeseed oil unsuitable for the production of fatty acids for technical purposes, although they are
excellent sources for C18 fatty acids.

1.7. Filling and Packing

1.7.1 Packaging
No packaging system can be functional without a compatible material that will deliver both good
machine throughput and provide a sufficient packaging barrier. Any packaging material that is
used for an edible oil packaging project must have a low initial microbial load (must be clean)
and provide a barrier compatible with the oil product. Product shelf life and stability are direct
related to the inherent ability of packaging material to affect the transmission of oxygen and
moisture. It is important to determine the desired shelf life of the product and then select the
material that will provide the shelf life.

1.7.2. Fillers –sealer

The filler is the focal point and the most critical component on any production line this piece of
equipment will always adversely affect the production when it is not operating. Filler downtime
can never be recovered; therefore it should be minimized.

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1.8. Summary
Edible oil that is extracted from oil seeds sources exposed to numerous process to yield up oils of
various amount according their nature of oil content. In general irrespective of the seed industrial
level production of cooking oil involves cleaning the seed, grinding them, pressing and
extracting the oil from them. In extracting, a volatile hydrocarbon such as hexane is used as a
solvent. After extracting, the oil is refined, mixed with an alkaline substance, and washed in
centrifuge. Further washing and refining follows, and then the oil is filtered and/or distilled. It is
then ready for packaging.

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1.9. Reference
1. http://www.buhlergroup.com/19886en.asp
2. http://www.carterday.com/Media/CDIGrainClenaing.pdf
3. http://www.cpmroskamp.com/roskamp/
4. http://www.crowniron.com/technologies/prep_parent.cfm
5. http://www.kice.com/industries/oilseedprocessing/index.html
6. http://www.sssdynamics.com/downloads/index.htm
7. Anonymous, inThe Extraction of Oil from Seeds and Nuts, June 1997. P. J. Wan and P. J.
Wakelyn,Technology and Solvents for Extracting Oilseeds and Nonpetroleum Oils,
AOCS Press, Champaign, Illinois, 1997
8. W. Hamm and R. J. Hamilton,Edible Oil Processing, Sheffield Academic Press Ltd.,
Sheffield, U.K., 2000
9. Farhoosh R, Einafshar S, Sharayei P (2009) The effect of commercial refining steps on
the rancidity measures of soybean and canola oil. Food Chem
10. Carr RA (1995) Processing the seed and oil. In: Kimer D, McGregor DI (eds) Brassica
oilseeds, production and utilization. CAB International, Wallingford

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