What tools are used in sunflower oil refining process?

Sunflower oil, extracted from the seeds of the sunflower plant (Helianthus annuus), is a popular vegetable oil appreciated for its mild flavor and nutritional benefits. There are many customers who are concerned about how to turn crude sunflower oil into refined sunflower oil. The process of converting crude sunflower oil into refined sunflower oil is called sunflower oil refining process. The sunflower oil refining process involves many tools designed to remove impurities, enhancement of taste, and improvement of the sunflower oil's stability. The following is an overview of the tools used in the sunflower oil refining process:

1.Degumming machinery:

Degumming machinery is the first tool used in sunflower oil refining process. Pumping crude sunflower oil into oil refining tank, stirring quickly, and simultaneously heating by steam or heat-transfer oil(in coiled heater). Then add some hot water to remove phospholipid in crude sunflower oil. But during sunflower oil degumming process, you should control the water amount, temperature and water adding speed. If phospholipid lasts long suspended in oil, which is hard to gather to make flocculent precipitate. We can rise up the speed of adding water, conversely slow down. Then we can remove the gums in the crude sunflower oil by precipitation.

Sunflower oil degumming and deacidification machinery

2.Deacidification machinery:

Deacidification machinery is usually the tool used in sunflower oil refining process to remove free fatty acids from crude sunflower oil. We usually add the food grade alkaline to the degummed oil for acid-base neutralization reaction to remove the free fatty acids, and then remove the soapstock by heating and natural sedimentation. For the batch type and semi-continuous type sunflower oil refining machinery , we will adopt precipitation separation method, as for continuous sunflower oil refining machinery, we will adopt centrifuge separation method.

3.Decolorization machinery:

Decolorization machinery is usually the tool used in sunflower oil refining process to remove impurities such as pigments, metals, and residual soap from the sunflower oil. Inhale definite amount of decoloring agent(white clay or acticarbon)into the refined sunflower oil, continuously stirring and heating for a period of time. After that, pump the mixture of oil and white clay into filter to separate oil and waste white clay.

Sunflower oil decolorization machinery

4.Deodorization machinery:

Deodorization machinery is the tool used in sunflower oil refining process, where odors and flavors are removed from the sunflower oil. It refers to pump decolorized sunflower oil into deodorization tank, when oil temperature reaches above100℃, injecting the direct steam to take the odors away.

Sunflower oil deodorization machinery

5.Dewaxing machinery:

Dewaxing is necessary for sunflower oil. Dewaxing machinery is usually the final tool used in sunflower oil refining process to reduce wax content in sunflower oil, which help increase edibility of sunflower oil.

Overall, these tools play a crucial role in the sunflower oil process, ensuring that the final product meets quality standards and is suitable for various applications in the food industry. If you have any questions about sunflower oil refining process technology or sunflower oil refining machinery and want to communicate with our engineers, welcome to contact Henan Glory Company.