Sunflower Oil Refinery Plant

Sunflower oil is rich in linoleic acid (54% to 70% of total fatty acid content) and oleic acid (about 39%). The nutritional value is high, but the crude oil contains trace amounts of wax (about 0.10%) and oxygen acid, which affecting its quality and storage stability. Sunflower oil refining process basically includes degumming, deacidification, decolorization and deodorization, which is similar to soybean oil refining. Besides, in order to remove the wax contained in sunflower oil, there often has the process of dewaxing to get higher-grade edible oil.

A basic sunflower oil refinery plant requires seed cleaners, dehullers (optional), cookers (for hot press), screw oil presses, filter presses for crude oil, and refining units including degumming tanks/reactors, neutralizing tanks/reactors, bleaching tanks/vessels, dewaxing units, and deodorizers. Auxiliary equipment such as conveyors, storage tanks, pumps, boilers, and cooling towers is also essential.

The main purposes include purification, removing harmful and useless impurities in crude sunflower oil to meet higher edible oil quality standards; extending the storage time by removing excess water; expanding the market space by improving the flavor and taste of the oil; and enhancing the market value as high - quality sunflower oil can command higher prices and profits.

The main steps include degumming to remove phosphatides, neutralization to remove free fatty acids, chlorophyll, etc., water washing to remove traces of soap, vacuum drying to remove water, bleaching to remove pigments, dewaxing to remove waxes, and deodorization to remove odors and part of free fatty acids and excessive water.

Sunflower oil contains waxes, and the presence of waxes can cause opacity in the refined oil, which is not desired by consumers. Dewaxing can reduce the wax content in the oil to less than 10 ppm, making the oil clearer.

Fill up all grease cups and oil holes with lubricant at least once a day. The lubricant in the gear box must be filtered and changed during every regular overhaul, once a year. In the annual overhaul, the machine should be disassembled and thoroughly cleaned, and damaged parts should be repaired or replaced.

For example, a 20 - ton - per - day sunflower seed oil refinery workshop without dewaxing requires a building size of 30 × 12 × 8 meters (l×w×h). If it has dewaxing capabilities, a larger size, such as 48 × 12 × 8 meters (l×w×h), is necessary.