Edible Oil Refining Process
Edible Oil Refining Process
Oil refining processes such as bleaching, winterization, hydrogenation, and final product quality with instantaneous monitoring will improve with the use of online analyzers.
Off-spec products can be immediately detected and countered with process improvement or adjustments quickly, reducing product rework. Galvanic In-line sensors deliver accurate and reliable process outcomes and specially designed to suit harsh conditions in process refineries.
Benefits of Edible Oil Process Control:
- Improved Product Yield
- Lesser Product Lost
- Reduced Human Errors
- Continuous Production Control
- Eliminate Human Error
Oil Dry Fractionation Application
Dry fractionation is based upon the principle of separation according to the varying melting points for the fat fractions within the edible oil. The method works without solvents. Caused by temperature changes, valuable fatty acids with a higher melting point are separated from the low melting liquid fat fraction. Incase of palm kernel oil, solid fat is used as cocoa butter substitute.
In a crystallization unit, the temperature is slowly lowered until semisolid palm oil forms crystals. The Resulting solid fat consists of high melting fat crystals (Stearins). The liquid fat fraction (Oleins) is separated by high-pressure membrane filtration.
In their native type, numerous edible oils are not usable for food purposes. To optimize their texture and structural properties, the food industry uses various chemical and physical modifications. Edible oils with a modified texture are most suitable for a consistent final product quality and a stable processing chain.
Color Measurement for Quality Control
Color measurement in the oils and fats industry is an essential part of the refining process. It is a means of assessing when the desired colour has been reached and when the refining can be halted.
This ability to regularly monitor the colour during processing cuts down the waste of refining materials and also helps to maintain colour consistancy of the end product.
Filtration and Bleaching
The bleaching process can be enhanced very efficiently using Galvanic colorimeters. Monitoring the color after the bleaching filter is the fundamental to controlling the addition of bleaching clay. Filtration process can be automatically set to a recycle mode until the desired transparency is achieved.
Moreover, filtrate monitoring will immediately detect filter breaks and track filter performance – a brilliant tool for quality assurance and quality control.
Winterizing and Dewaxing
The winterization process for edible oils serves to remove high melting components like wax from the oil. Installed directly inline following the winterization process, Galvanic’s scattered light turbidimeter can provide real-time monitoring of the performance of the process.
Any remaining high melting components (such as waxes) can be immediately detected and measured down to low PPM ranges and thereby greatly reduce losses due to rework of out-of-spec product.
Hydrogenation of Edible Oil
Hydrogenation of oils applied in the production of solid fats and margarine is required to give the finished oil a higher melting temperature and better oxidation stability, improving the product’s resistance to spoilage. Generally, nickel-based catalysts are used in this process. Once the hydrogenation is complete, the nickel catalyst must be filtered off.
Filtering off the catalyst can be controlled by an Galvanic turbidimeter capable of detecting very low catalyst concentrations, thus reducing the loss of nickel catalyst and optimizing the filtration process while ensuring final product quality.
The Importance Of Viscosity Measurement In Edible Oil Process Control
The viscosity of edible oils is a parameter used to describe quality. Liquid viscosity is also important regarding design of process equipment for the edible fat- and oil industry. Rheological data are required for process piping design, pressure drop determination and in design of heat transfer equipment.
Rheological properties are also of interest when modifying fats and oils, either the method used is fractionation, chemical, hydrogenation, enzymatic, blending or combinations of the mentioned methods. Blending can as an example be used in industrial applications to provide oils with improved composition related to stability, nutrition and functionality endowed with the characteristics requested by consumer preferences.
Another aspect is related to authenticity of edible oils and fats, and methods available to detect or verify food authenticity. This is of course important both from a nutritional- and economical point of view. Fats and oils have a huge contribution in our diet as cooking or frying oils, salad oils or in food products formulations.
