Oiltek Sdn. Bhd. (Edible Oil Processing Specialist)

SPLIT COLUMN CONTINUOUS PHYSICAL REFINING PLANT

DIFFERENTIATE YOUR OIL QUALITY

The OIltek Split Column Continuous Physical Refining Plant has been carefully designed to increase your refined oil quality while reducing your operating costs.

If you want to be the industry leader in premium quality, packed edible oil products, or wherever refined oil quality and energy costs are important, your choice of our split column design will ensure your manufacturing investment supports your goals.

OILTEK SPLIT COLUMN CONTINUOUS PHYSICAL REFINING PROCESS

Freshly extracted crude oils contain a diverse group of undersirable impurities such as :

Naturally-occuring compounds, including pigments and phosphatides
Contaminants from the extraction process, such as metals

Furthermore, the phosphatides and metals are commonly present as gums, which are not easily handled.

By the time you receive the oil, it will contain more, objectionable degradation products, including:

Peroxides, aldehydes, ketones, fatty acids and fixed pigments.

Our technical objective is to remove all these impurities - whilst preserving the oil's natural, positive attributes - to produce a pure, bland, bright and lightly coloured refined oil of exceptional resistance to deterioration during storage and use.

Our Split Column Physical Refining Plant efficiently executes an integrated sequence of three specialised processes that are thorough, yet gentle.

Dry Degumming

Incoming crude oil from storage is continually heated to degumming temperature by outgoing refined oil, or by preheater during start-up. Food grade acid is constantly dosed and mixed with the oil.

The oil-acid mixture flows to a degumming vessel for the degumming reaction to proceed. Gums in the oil decompose on contact with the acid to liberate metals and phosphatides, which are removed during adsorption bleaching.

Adsorption Bleaching

Degummed oil continues to a slurry tank under vacuum. Bleaching earth is concurrently metered to the slurry tank and a slurry of degummed oil and earth forms.

This slurry continues to flow through a two-stage bleacher vessel. In the first stage, the slurry is heated to bleaching temperature. In the second stage, the bleaching reaction proceeds and impurities, especially metals, phosphatides, pigments and peroxides, are trapped on the earth or decompose.

The slurry is continually discharge from the bleacher through the bleaching and polishing filters, which separate the earth from the oil and ensure complete removal of all solid impurities.

Deodorisation

Bleached oil is further de-aerated. Next, it is heated to deodorising temperature in two steps by the outgoing refined oil, or start-up heater, and then by a high-pressure steam generator. The oil then flows under high vacuum through a sequence of three vessels to complete the removal of impurities:

In the flash vessel, around 1/3 of fatty acids evaporate from the oil
In the pre-stripper, which features structured internal packing, aldehydes, ketones and the bulk of fatty acids are carried from the oil by stripping steam
In the deodoriser, removal of aldehydes, ketones and fatty acids is complete and remaining carotenoid pigments decompose

The outgoing refined oil is cooled in three steps by bleached oil, incoming crude oil and cooling water. Antioxidant may be dosed and the refined oil is sent to storage.

Fatty acids leaving the deodoriser in the vacuum vapour mixture are condensed in a scrubber and collected as fatty acid distillate for other applications.

SPLIT COLUMN CONTINUOUS PHYSICAL REFINING PROCESS

WHEN QUALITY MEANS PROFIT

In Oiltek's Split Column Physical Refining Plant, you will find design features that increase your product quality and reduce your consumables and utilities costs.

Degumming at 85ºC with a dynamic mixer increases the efficiency of the degumming treatment. Removal of phosphatides and metals is more effective and refined oil quality is enhanced.

Internal heating of the oil-earth slurry in the bleacher allows the bleaching process to be separately optimised. Agitation of the slurry by live steam improves bleaching effectiveness.

Our split column design uses three separate deodorising vessels. A vacuum manifold achieves low absolute pressure in all vessels. The result is maximum vacuum for removal of impurities with reduced steam consumption, again leading to superior oil quality at lower cost.

Heat recovery is used at four points in the process to reduce energy costs

PLC system gives ease of operation and provides key management information reporting

Mammoth lift pumps circulate oil in the deodoriser trays to increase contact between the oil and vacuum headspace. Our covered deodoriser trays prevent spray oil droplets re-contaminating the refined oil.

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