What are the refining process of palm oil?

Henan Doing Company, is a biggest manufacturer and exporter of palm oil refining machine and occupies a prominent place in the China palm oil refinery field. All the palm oil refining machine designed and supplied by us adopts the most advanced crude palm oil refining technology including degumming, deacidification, decolorization, high vacuum steam deodorization and fractionation. The unique designed crude palm oil refining technology ensures high efficiency palm oil refining machine with less activity addition and low residual oil.

Batch type palm oil refining machine with capacity 1-10tpd

Our developed palm oil refining machine has unique skill, stable performance, high mechanical, and advanced technology index. Besides series products, we also can make reasonable combination according to customers’ requirments. The palm oil refining machine has multi-functions, can be used not only to produce international first, second oil , but also high cooking oil and salad oil. It’s an idea equipment for city or town palm oil processing plants.

Palm oil refinery process flow diagram are as follows:

Batch type palm oil refinery process flow diagram

Palm oil refining process flow chart :

Palm oil refining process flow chart

Palm oil refining,crude palm oil got from palm oil expeller or palm oil press production line should be under filter to remove the suspended solid materials( mainly cake residue, extra things like some sand, fiber, etc.)and part desolution materials, then waterization degum, to remove off the gumsoluble impurities like phospholipid in filtered gross oil. The specific operations as follows;

Degumming process of palm oil , palm oil degumming process operation:

a、preheat

Use pump beating the filtered crude palm oil into the hydration tank(palm oil refining tank), stirring quickly(60 rounds/min), simultaneously heater by steam or heat-transfer oil(in plate pipes),make the ol temperature up to 50-60.

b，put in water hydration

This is the most importand period for hydration and degum of palm oil refining process. You should manage the quantity of the plus water, temperature and the putting in water speed. The normal water quantity is about 3 times phospholipid content, that’s mean weigh 3%-10% oil weight, water temperature should be higher than oil temperature. When putting water, if phospholipid lasts long suspend in oil, hard to gather to make flocculent precipitate,can flooding quickly,conversely slow flooding, time is usually 10-15 minutes,stirring quickly.when the phospholipid particle begin to gather, should stir slowly(30rounds/min)and temperature up to about70.

c,static settlement, separate oilfoot

Usually to static about 8hours, when in winter, should take necessary heat preservation, benefit to settlement and separation. Oilfoot is released from the tank bottom, extra treatment.

d:heat dehydrate ( or desolution)

Hydration net oil usually contain about 0.5% moisture, so should be under dehydrate treatment, has normal pressure and vaccum two kinds, nonall pressure dehydrate is to make the temperature up to 105-110, with constant stir, until the qualified sample test. Vacuum dehydrate, control oil temperature at 90-100, residual pressure is 4Kpa-7Kpa(30—50mmHg).

e:filter

To remove off few unsettlement gum-soluble impurities in the oil after degum , the oil should filter again after dehydrate cooling(60℃）

f:hydration oilfoot treatment

Oilfoot bump like oilfoot tank, under heater, salt out treatment, the purpose is to salting out the neutral oil and water content of the hydration oilfoot. When salting out, first make oilfoot heat to90-110℃, then add in fine edible salt, the quantity is 2-5% weight of oilfoot, when the oilfoot is watery, can directly put into the salt, when its thick, can add saturated salt water. Settlement after some stirring, 2 hours later, get out of the upper part oil , blend them into hydration net oil, dehydrate together, release the waste water from the tank bottom.

Deacidification process of palm oil, palm oil deacidification process operation:

During palm oil refining process, we need to de-acid, mainly dedicated to remove the free fatty acid of the degummed palm oil. We adopt alkali refining method in palm oil refining process, that’s to use NaOH or other alkali to neutralize the free fattyacid of the oil, let producing soapstock separated from oil. NaOH, not only used to neutralize free fattyacid, but also can act with other materials in oil , like, protein, mucilage, phospholipid, pigment, etc. the produced soapstock is kind of surface active agent itself, has some absorption, so, also can bring other impurities to soapstock. All in all, alkali refining of palm oil has the synthetic action of deacid, degum, de-impurity, decolor.

a、pretreatment

Put the measured crude palm oil pump into the palm oil refining tank, stir uniform, get sample to test the acid value. According to the acid value, color and other factors to choose proper alkali liquor density( marked by ºBe’). Caculating quantity of adding alkali( theory quantity and surpass quantity) and adjust the oil temperature to 25-30℃. For convenient counting, use kilo to marked different ºBe’ alkali liquor for every ton gross oil according to different acid value.

b、neutralization

Add into the pre-allocated definite quantity alkali liquor, adding time is about 5-10mins, simutainously quickly stirring the alkali liquor(60 rounds/min), continue 30mins after add over. Meanwhile take attention to observe, when soap particles in emulsion appear discrete state, begin to heat until 60-65℃,when heatig, change to slow stirring,(30rounds/min), until the ultimate temperature, soapstock and oil are easy to separate,and quickly sank down. If find the soapstock sticky, and appear longlasting suspend state, can continue slow stirring or add in hot water same to oil’s weight or some watery salt water(5-10% oil weight) ,make the soap particals increase specific gravity after absorb water, and quickly sank down.

c:static settlement

6-8hours, the settlement period, heat preservation should be noticed, especially in winter.

d: water washing

After static settlement, release soapstock from the tank bottom. Adjust oil temperature to 80-85℃,use hot water higher temperature than oil to crop clearance, remove off the residual alkali liquor and soap in the oil, each time, hot water quantity is 10-15% oil content. According to situations, washing 1-3 times, when washing , with slow stirring. Static 1hour, put out waste water. Every crop clearance, release the waste water completely into the oil and water separate pool, recovery the upper floating oil then discharge into sewerage.

e:dry

There are about 0.5% moisture in the oil after washing, so need to dry, the way is same to hydration degummed oil dry.

f:Filter:

Filter the oil after dry, dehydrate ,cooling to below70℃, ensue the quality of the finished oil.

g:recovery soapstock:

Soapstoak after static settlement has some neutralize oil, for adequately recovery these part oil, can turn the soapstock to soapstock tank, heater, up temperature, and directly use steam to help turing around, meanwhile add into fine edible salt(4-5% oil content),stop heater until the temperature up to 60℃, get out of the up-floating oil after 2 hours static, then heat to 75℃, again static and get out of oil, this oil need to retreatment, the soapstock after treatment wait other use.

Bleaching process of palm oil ( Decolorizing process of palm oil), palm oil decolorization process operation:

a、treatment

Beating the oil after alkali refining and washing into palm oil decolorization tank(induced by vacuum), cover about 2/3 tank volume,under the vacuum( vacuum residual pressure 6Kpa) , stirring with heating, making the oil up heat to above 80℃,and making the moisture down to under 0.1%.

b:decolor

Absorb the definite quantity decolor agent(active white clay, active carbon)usually2-5%oil weight into the oil by vacuum, and continue stirring upheating to about 150℃, keep about25mins, so that’s finish the decolor.

c:filter

Down the oil temperature to about 70℃ in the decolor tank, break vacuum, beated into filter by pump, begin filter, the oil should refilter, in order to reduce ol content in waste clay, can use air compressor blow the oil into oil filter, recovery oil.

Decolorization process of palm oil, palm oil deodorization process operation:

a.pretreatment

Turn on the vacuum device, absorb the decolor oil into the deodor tank(now the vacuum resifual pressure about 35Kpa), oil content is about 2/3 tank volume.

b:heating deodor

When oil into the tank , begin to heating,( use heat-transfer oil) , waiting for the oil temperature reaches above100℃, inject the direct steam( pressure0.1MPa), injection content is 10-15% oil content, deodor oil temperature above 180℃,vacuum residual pressure0.8Kpa(6mmHg)

c:cooling, filter

The cooling of deodor oil can be carried out at the original tank, also can turn to vacuum cooling tank. If cooling in the original tank, when reach the deodor time, should immediately stop heating, turn small direct gas(only make the oil layer turning) and vacuum always kept in plate pipes. When oil temperature nearly to 80℃, turn off direct steam, after breaking vacuum of the tank, transfer the cooled oil by pump to safty filter for removing impurities, then we got finished oil.

d:heat-transfer oil production processing operation.

In order to meet some oil plant without steam stove and deodor presessing requirments, specially design heat-transfer oil stove. It can use coal, gas, heavy oil, electric as hot source to heat heat-transfer oil. After heating, the temperature of heat-transfer oil can reach above 300℃,on one hand, this heat-transfer oil can supply hot enegy for indirectly heating through other parts of oil refinig. On the other hand, can heat water to vapour through steam generator.

Our company can provide you with the design, manufacturing and installation of palm oil refining machine, if you need to know more information about palm oil refining process flow diagram , palm oil refining process opearation , please feel free to contact us!