“Processing of Oil Seeds”

Content

3.1 Production of oil: Processing technology of oil seeds- Oil Seed Pressing, Solvent Extraction, Purification
(degumming, refining, bleaching, deodorization).

3.2 Oil Processing- Hydrogenation, Plasticizing, Tempering, Winterization.

Unit Outcomes (UOs)

3a. Describe with sketches the Processing technology of the given type of oil seeds.

3b. Describe with sketches the Solvent extraction for the specified type of oil seed.

3c. Describe with sketches the working of the given type of mechanical expeller.

3d.Describe with sketches the Purification techniques of the given type of oil.

3e. Describe with sketches the Hydrogenation, Plasticizing of the given type of oil.

3f. Explain the hygienic and safe practices to be followed for the specified oil seed manufacturing process
technology.

Introduction

• Fats and oils are one of the five essential ingredients of human diet and the others are protein,
carbohydrates, minerals and vitamins.
• In a balanced diet, the oils and fats requirement per person per day is 35 g for vegetarians, 39 g for non-
vegetarian and 38 g for average diet.
• India is fourth oil seed producing country in the next only to USA, China and Brazil.
• Many varieties of oilseeds, the major oilseeds are soybean, cottonseed, groundnut, Sunflower, Rapeseed,
Sesame seed, Copra, Castor seed and Palm Kernels.
• India occupies the place of pride as the world’s largest producer of Groundnuts, Sesame seeds, Linseeds
and Castor seeds.
• The oils and fats are composed of mixtures of glycerides of various fatty acids.
• The fats and oils are broadly classified in to edible and non edible.
• Groundnut, soybean, mustard are some of the sources of the edible oil.
• The edible oil is main source of fat taken in daily meals and is used for cooking purposes and salad
dressings.
• Oils are also used in the soap industry, paint, varnishes and plasticizers industry.
• The mechanical expression and solvent extraction methods are employed for the manufacture of oil from
the oil seeds.
Images of oil Seeds
 Production of oil

• Vegetable oil is one of the oldest known man-made ingredients used in cooking.

• Humans have been making vegetable oil – and, presumably, frying food in it – for almost 8000 years.

• Vegetable oils are extracted from plants, often from the seeds, and the likes of rapeseed oil, olive oil and
palm oil are all popularly used varieties of vegetable oils.

• Vegetable oils, or vegetable fats, are oils extracted from seeds or from other parts of fruits.

• Like animal fats, vegetable fats are mixtures of triglycerides.

• Soybean oil, grape seed oil, and cocoa butter are examples of fats from seeds.

• Olive oil, palm oil, and rice bran oil are examples of fats from other parts of fruits.

• In common usage, vegetable oil may refer exclusively to vegetable fats which are liquid at room
temperature.

• Vegetable oils are usually edible; non-edible oils derived mainly from petroleum are termed mineral
oils.

• The production of vegetable oil involves the removal of oil from plant components typically seeds.

• This can be done by mechanical extraction using an oil mill or chemical extraction using a solvent.

• The extracted oil can then be purified and if required refined.

Steps for production of vegetable oil

• Step I – Selection of Seeds, Nuts

• Step II - Pre-treatment Processing (Cleaning and Separation)

• Step III - Removal of shell, hulls and dirt

• Step IV - Grinding

• Step V - Hydraulic Pressing

• Step VI – Product (Oil and Cake)

 Flow sheet diagram for production of vegetable oil

Raw Material Preparation

• Oilseed and nut should be properly dried before storage, and cleaned to remove sand, dust, leaves and
other contaminants.

• All raw materials should be sorted to remove stones and moudly nuts.

• Some moulds, especially in the case of groundnuts, can cause aflatoxin poisoning.

• When storage is necessary, this should be in weather proof, ventilated rooms which are protected against
birds, insects and rodents.

• Some raw materials (for example groundnuts, sunflower seeds) need dehusking (or decorticating).
 • Decortication is important to give high yields of oil and reduce the bulk of material to processed.

• However, expellers normally require a proportion of fibrous material in order to work and, particularly
with groundnuts; some husk is normally added to allow oil to escape more freely from the press.

• Coconut is dehusked and split manually by skilled operators.

• Most oilseeds (copra, palm kernels and groundnuts) need grinding in mills before oil extraction to
increase the yields of oil.

• All oil-bearing materials need to have correct moisture content to maximize the oil yields.

Processing technology of oil seeds

• 1. Oil Seed Pressing

• 2. Solvent Extraction

• 3. Purification

• a. Degumming, b. Refining c. Bleaching d. Deodorization

Oil Seed Pressing

Many seeds and nuts do not release the oil by rendering process.

Rendering is the natural method in which seeds are crushed to sun and then the oil is removed.

In these case seeds or nuts are crushed under pressure and release the oil from seeds or nuts, for these many
mechanical devices are used.

Following are the various steps in oil seed pressing –

1. Processing
2. Removal of shells, hulls and dirt
3. Grinding
4. Hydraulic pressing

i. Processing –
• Oil seeds or nuts are passed over magnetic separators where by ion particles are removed.
ii. Removal of Shells, Hulls and Dirt –
• Shells are a hard protective cover of seeds or nuts.
• Hull is a main body of seeds or nuts.
• Dirt is a substance such as mud or dust.
• Large size impurities are removed by screening.
• Dirt, small sticks and other impurities are removed by blowing with air.
• Thus oil seeds are free from external impurities.
iii. Grinding –
• The cleaned oil seeds are then introduced in to crushing chamber through hopper.
• Generally for grinding used roll crusher.
• Seeds are crushed between two rolls or many rolls.
• The crushed material is then put in a kettle surrounded by steam jacket.
• The material is heated by steam to extract oil and coagulated.
• Heated crushed material is then converted in to cake which are then packed in cloth bags.
iv. Hydraulic Pressing –
• Using hydraulic press, these bags are firmly pressed where by oil flows out.
• It is collected in the storage tank.
• The process of pressing is repeated to tank out maximum amount of oil.

2. Extraction of oil by Solvent Process

• Cake obtained by pressing operation contain 5 – 10 % oils.
• Further oil is extracted by heating the cake with volatile hydrocarbon like benzene, petroleum ether,
carbon disulphide or carbon tetrachloride are used for extraction.

Oil Extraction Methods

A) Mechanical Expression:
• During the process of mechanical expression, the oil seeds are compressed in various types of
compression devices/equipment.
• Expression is the process of mechanically pressing liquid out of liquid containing solids.
• Screw press, roll presses, hydraulic press are some examples of wide range of equipment used for
expression of liquid.
i) Hydraulic press:
• The hydraulic press is considered of a series of horizontal corrugated iron plates.
• These plates are separated by 4 – 14 pre moulded oil seed cakes.
• Pressing is completed in two stages. In first stage, the oil seeds are pressed at about 5 MPa for 15-20
min and then pressure of 28 MPa is applied for 5-10 min to complete the expression process.
• The recovery of the oil varied depending upon the sizes and seed being pressed.
• But, the at commercial level, the hydraulic press is replaced by screw type presses.

ii) Screw press:

• A screw press has a horizontal main shaft.
• The screw assembly is formed integrally with this shaft.
• The screw rotates within a cage or barrel.
• The barrel is made of case hardened, tool steel bars or rings to allow drainage of the oil as the pressure
on the feed material is increased.
• At the discharge end, a movable choke or cone controls the operating pressure.
• It is achieved by changing the width of annular space through which the oil cake passes.
• The choke is adjusted by a hand wheel on the opposite end of the screw.
• The configuration of screw is such that the volume displacement at the feed end of the press is
considerably greater than at the discharge end.
• As a result of such configuration, as the material is conveyed from feed end to discharge end, it is
subjected to increasing pressure.
• As pressure increases, the material is compressed and oil is expelled through the spacers between the
cage lining bars.
 iii) Ram press:
• A long pivoted lever moves a piston backwards and forewords inside a cylindrical cage constructed
from a metal bars spaced to allow the passage of oil.
• At one end of the piston’s stroke, it opens an entry port from the seed hopper so that seed enters the
press cage.
• When the piston is moved forward, the entry post is closed and the oilseed is compressed in the cage.
• As a result, oil is expelled from the oilseed the emerges through the gaps in the cage.
• Compressed seed is pushed out through the gaps in the cage.
• Compressed seed is pushed out through circular gap at the end of the cage.

B) Oil Extraction:
• Extraction is a process of separating a liquid from a solid system with the use of a solvent.
• Extraction is also a process of diffusion with the help of low boiling point solvent.
• This process gives a higher recovery of oil and a drier cake than expression.
• Solvent extraction is capable of removing nearly all of the available oil from oilseed meal.
• This extraction process provides meal of better preservation qualities and with higher protein qualities.
• In this process, the solvent is poured to the well prepared material.
• It is then followed by the diffusion of oil solvent mixture to the surface of solid for recovery of oil.
• The most common solvent used in India is n-hexane having boiling point of 65.5 ºC.
• The oil is separated from mixture of oil and hexane called miscella by distillation and stripping under
vacuum.
• The extracted meal having hexane is de-solventized by heating with live steam in a de-solventizer.
• This meal is known as de-oiled cake and it contains about less than 1 % residual oil.
• The solvent from the distillation and stripping columns as well as from the de-solventizer is condensed
and recovered and stored in the solvent storage tank.
• The separated from the miscella goes to the storage tank after cooling.
• Solvent extraction plant use hexane as a solvent to extract oil from oilseed cake.
• These plants are expensive and only suitable for large volumes which justify the capital cost of
equipment.
• Where large amounts of oilseed cake are available, solvent extraction becomes a commercially- viable
option to extract residual oil left in the cake and leave an almost oil-free powder known as oilseed meal.
Both cake and meal are incorporated in animal feeds.

Flow sheet diagram for Extraction of oil by Solvent Process

Miscella - A solution or mixture containing an extracted oil or grease
 3. Purification

Process of Oil Refining:

• Refining of crude oil is done to remove unwanted minor components from the oil.

• Refining of oils may include neutralization of fatty acids, removal of phospholipids (a compound
containing phosphorous), and filtering of the oil.

• In many local markets further refining is not required as the complexes of unrefined oils are preferred.

• International markets tend to prefer lighter less intense oils for cooking which means further processing
of the oil.

• There is serious of refining processes that can be carried out after the oil has been filtered.

• Vegetable Oils Refining is necessary for vegetable oils & fats or animal oils & fats so they can be used
for cooking and frying foods.

• Chemically speaking, oils are Tri-Glycerides or “Fatty-Acid Glycerin Esters” (FAGE). One Glycerin
molecule combines with three Fatty-Acid molecules to form one FAGE.

• Oils are a blend of different types of FAGEs.

• The Oils can be differentiated on the basis of the length of carbon chain in the Fatty Acids and the
number and location of double bonds in the carbon chains of the Fatty Acids.
• Greater the number of double bonds between two carbon atoms, the greater is the extent of
“unsaturated” fatty-acids in the fatty-acid profile of the oils.

• “Unsaturated” oils and fats are considered more desirable than “saturated” oils and fats from health
point of view.

Why is Vegetable Oil Refined?

• Vegetable and Animal Oils and Fats have impurities such as Moisture, Solids (Insolubles), Gums
(Lecithins), Free-Fatty Acids (FFA), Waxes, and Compounds of Sodium, Potassium, Magnesium,
Calcium, and other metals.

• These impurities must be removed to improve the functionality of the oils.

• Other characteristics of oils (such as Color, odor, and taste) are also considered impurities by modern
consumers.

• These impurities are removed in a series of steps such as degumming (to remove gums), neutralizing (to
remove FFA), bleaching (to remove color), deodorizing (to remove odor and taste), and dewaxing or
winterization (to remove waxes).

Chemical Refining:

• In Chemical Refining, Vegetable Oil is treated with caustic lye for separation of free fatty acids from oil.

• This is a conventional process that can be applied to all oils.

• A byproduct of alkali refining is soap-stock, which is used for manufacture of low quality washing soap.

• Alternately, the soap-stock can be treated with acid to recover fatty acids.

• The waste-water from refinery requires extensive treatment.

• This can be avoided by alternate Physical Refining process.

Physical Refining:

• In Physical Refining, Vegetable Oil is subject to distillation to remove free fatty acids.

• The alkali treatment is completely avoided.

• This reduces the amount of waste water and eliminates production of soap.

• This process is becoming more popular.

Basic steps of the refining process

• 1. De-odorising , 2. Wintering, 3. Neutralisation. 4. Bleaching. 5. De-gumming

i) De-odorising:

• The purpose of Deodorizing Vegetable Oils is to remove odor substances.

• The oil is subjected to steam distillation under high temperature and vacuum to evaporate all odor
substances.

• The resulting deodorized oil is almost bland and tasteless.

• Volatile compounds that produce bad odours can eliminated through the process of sparging, i.e.
bubbling steam through the oil, under a vacuum.

ii) Wintering

• The purpose of Winterization Vegetable Oils is to remove waxes especially in those oils that contain
waxes.

• Such oils are subjected to chilling and filtration to remove waxes and other high melting point
substances.

• Winterizing is also used to separate the unsaturated fats from unsaturated fats—especially in Palm Oil or
other saturated fats.

• The chilling process solidifies the saturated fats; thus enabling separation via filtration.

• Allowing the oil to stand for a time at low temperatures so that glycerides, which naturally occur in the
oil, with higher melting points solidify and can then be removed from the oil by filtering.

• Over time glycerides can degrade releasing fatty acids into the oil increasing the acidity levels and
reducing the quality.

iii) Neutralisation:

• The purpose of Neutralizing Vegetable Oils is to remove Free-Fatty Acids (FFAs).

• Traditionally, FFAs are treated with caustic soda (NaOH).

• The reaction produces Soaps which are separated from the oil.

• Because trace amounts of soaps remain in the oil, the oil is either washed with water or treated with
Silica.

• Some processors prefer not to perform caustic neutralizing.

• Instead, they prefer Physical Refining in which the FFAs are evaporated from the oil under high
temperature and vacuum.

• This process can be combined with deodorization step described under FFA stripping.

• Physical Refining process is preferred because (a) it does not produce soaps; (b) it recovers fatty acids
that provide better cost recovery; (c) there is smaller yield loss compared to caustic refining—especially
for oils with higher FFAs; and (d) it is a chemical-free process.

• Fatty acids can be neutralized by adding a sodium hydroxide solution, also known as caustic soda, or by
stripping, which is a similar process to de-odorising.
 iv) Bleaching

• Some oils have a very dark colour to them that is unpopular with consumers.

• The appearance of the oil can be lightened by bleaching.

• v) De-gumming:

• The purpose of Degumming Vegetable Oils is to remove Gums.

• All oils have hydratable and non-hydratable gums.

• a. Water Degumming: Hydratable gums are removed by treating oils with water and separating the
gums. The gums can be dried to produce lecithin.

• b. Acid Degumming: Non-Hydratable gums are removed by treating oils with acids and separating the
gums.

• De-gumming is a way of treating seed that have high phosphatide content.

• The phosphetide, which makes a gummy residue, is removed by mixing the oil with 2 to 3% water.

• This hydrated phosphatide can then be removed by settling, filtering or centrifuged.

Basic steps of the refining process

• Bleaching:

• The purpose of Bleaching is to remove color pigments contained in Vegetable Oils.

• The oil is treated with Bleaching Clays that adsorb the color pigments.

• The clay is filtered and the clean bleached oil is stored for further processing.

Oil Processing

• Hydrogenation

• Plasticizing

• Tempering

• Winterization.

Hydrogenation of Oil

• Hydrogenation is a chemical reaction between molecular hydrogen (H2) and another compound or
element, usually in the presence of a catalyst such as nickel, palladium or platinum.

• The process is commonly employed to reduce or saturate organic compounds.

• Hydrogenation typically constitutes the addition of pairs of hydrogen atoms to a molecule, often an
alkene.
• Catalysts are required for the reaction to be usable; non-catalytic hydrogenation takes place only at very
high temperatures.

• Hydrogenation reduces double and triple bonds in hydrocarbons.

• What is hydrogenated vegetable oil?

• Oils (such as vegetable, olive, sunflower) are liquids at room temperature.

• In the food industry, hydrogen is added to oils (in a process called hydrogenation) to make them more
solid, or 'spreadable'.

• Hydrogenated oils can be sold directly as 'spreads', but are also used in the food industry in the
manufacture of many foodstuffs such as biscuits and cakes.

• The use of hydrogenated helps to prolong the shelf-life of the food and maintain flavour stability.

• Hydrogenation of vegetable oil has been practiced for over a century.

• The process was originally introduced to convert some of the unsaturated fatty acids in vegetable
oils, as well as marine or animal fats to make them more stable to oxidation.

• In this process, the unsaturated double bonds in the fatty acids of the oil molecules react with
hydrogen atoms in the presence of a catalyst.

• Nickel catalyst is used in commercial hydrogenation of edible oils.

• Other catalysts, such as platinum, palladium, copper, etc., have also been applied in hydrogenation
applications.

• These are not used in commercial hydrogenation of edible oils.

• Hydrogenation has been used for a long time to improve oxidative stability of vegetable oils for
improved shelf life and to modify the solids content and melting characteristics of the oil to
formulate shortening and margarine products with the desired physical properties.

Hydrogenation Process

• The commercial processors of the world use hydrated nickel catalyst to manufacture all edible
hydrogenated products.

• Two types of reactors are used for the process. They are:

• 1. Batch Reactors

• a. Dead-end Type

• b. Recirculating Type

• 2. Continuous Reactors

Batch Hydrogenation Reactor

Fig: Batch Hydrogenation Reactor.
• Batch reactors are used worldwide to hydrogenate oils for various applications.

• Fig. shows the schematic diagram of a batch hydrogenation reactor.

• These reactors are referred to as “converters” by many oil processors.

• The basic design features and appearance of the reactors are very similar regardless of their
capacity, which can range from a few tons up to 30 tons or larger.

• The batch hydrogenation reactor (converter) is equipped with the following accessories:

• mechanical agitator,

• heating and cooling coils,

• hydrogen gas sparger,

• temperature controller,

• pressure controller,

• vent valve for the spent gas,

• safety rupture disc,

• agitator seal protector (lubricant),

• rupture disc to protect the reactor against over pressurizing,

• hydrogen gas flow meter with flow indicator,

• gas flow totalizer, and

• vacuum ejector or vacuum pump.

Operation of a Batch Hydrogenation Reactor

Operation of a Batch Hydrogenation Reactor

• Fig. 7.5 shows the schematic diagram for a batch hydrogenation system with heat recovery.

• 1. The oil enters the reactor under vacuum.

• 2. The oil is heated to 185–195°F (85–95°C) in the reactor to deaerate it .

• This removes the dissolved oxygen and moisture from the oil.

• 3. Typically, it requires 15–20 min to complete the deaeration process.

• 4. Reactors can have oil preheaters that heat the reactor feed to 185–195°F (85–95°C) as the oil enters
the reactor under vacuum.

• This deaerates the feed oil as the reactor is being filled.

• 5. Fresh catalyst is added, using about 0.01%–0.02% of the oil (nickel basis) into the reactor when the
oil temperature reaches 315–325°F (157–162°C) with most nickel catalysts.
• The nickel concentration may be as much as 0.04% of the oil, when reused catalyst is used in the slurry
form or under some special conditions to be described later.

• 6. Presently, most oil processors use only fresh catalyst for every batch of oil hydrogenated.

• 7. With most nickel catalysts, the hydrogenation reaction starts when the oil temperature reaches
approximately 315–325°F (157–162°C).

• 8. The hydrogenation reaction then proceeds.

• Some catalysts have lower initiation temperatures.

• 9. The heat generated from the reaction raises the oil temperature in the reactor.

• 10. Steam heating is no longer required.

• 11. The reaction in a batch reactor is carried out either adiabatically or isothermally.

Plasticizing of Oil

• Definition of plasticizer according to the Council of the International Union of Pure and applied
Chemistry (IUPAC) is :

• a substance or material incorporated in a material (usually a plastic or elastomer) to increase its

flexibility, workability, or distensibility, also reduce the melt viscosity, lower the temperature of second
order transition, or lower the elastic modulus of the product.

• Compositions and methods for plasticizing polyvinyl chloride polymers where the plasticizers contain
fatty acids derived from vegetable oils and the fatty acids are substantially fully esterified with an
alcohol (monool or polyol), the fatty acids having unsaturated bonds that are substantially fully
epoxidized, and wherein the fatty acids are added substantially randomly to one or more hydroxyl sites
on the alcohol.

• The plasticizers may be added in amounts between about 10 to 230 pph of PVC resin.

• What are plasticizers and what are their benefits?

• Plasticizers are colorless and odorless esters, mainly phthalates, that increase the elasticity of a material
(e.g., polyvinylchloride (PVC)).

• Plasticizers soften the PVC to make it flexible and bendable.

• This opens up a huge range of possibilities for new applications.

• One of the main benefits of plasticizers is the durability they confer on to PVC applications, which can
ensure high performances for up to 50 years.

• Without plasticizers, PVC can only be rigid, such as the PVC used in wastewater pipes.
• What types of products are plasticizers used in?

• Around 90 % of all plasticizers are used in the production of flexible polyvinyl chloride (PVC), also
known as vinyl.

• The main applications for flexible PVC include flooring and wall coverings, roofing membranes,
electrical cable and wire insulation, automotive applications, medical devices, synthetic leather goods,
and so forth.

• Some plasticizers can also be used in rubber products, paints, printing inks, adhesives, and sealants for
professional use.

• The use of plasticizers in all applications is strictly regulated.

• What are they made of?

• Plasticizers are produced by a reaction of an alcohol with an acid such as adipic acid, phthalic
anhydride, and so forth.

• The choice of alcohol and acid will determine the type of ester that can be produced and hence the kind
of plasticizer.

• The combinations are almost endless, but only a very limited number have survived the rigorous
performance, cost, availability, health, and environmental requirements that are imposed by the market
including by users and regulation.

• Plasticizers are relatively non-volatile organic substances (mainly liquids).

• When incorporated into a plastic or elastomer, they help improve the polymer's:

• • Flexibility

• • Extensibility and,

• • Processability

• Plasticizers increase the flow and thermo plasticity of a polymer by decreasing the viscosity of the
polymer melt, the glass transition temperature (Tg), the melting temperature (Tm) and the elastic
modulus of the finished product without altering the fundamental chemical character of the plasticized
material.

• Use of Plasticizers

• Plasticizers are among the most widely used additives in the plastic industry.

• They are also usually cheaper than other additives used in polymer processing.

• Plasticizers are most often used in PVC, the third largest polymer by volume after PP and PE.

• In turn, PVC is used in a wide range of products.

• Examples include:
• Unplasticized PVC (or rigid PVC) is used in applications such as pipes, siding, and window profiles.

• Plasticized PVC (or flexible PVC) finds applications in automotive interior trim, cables, PVC films,
flooring, roofing and wall coverings, etc.

Tempering of Oil

• Cooking/Tempering :

• Some fat when stored at room temperature are a mixture of low and high melting point fraction.

• The fractionation is a process which separate both in order to obtain a liquid fraction which remains
limpid at room temperature by using tempering.

• Oilseeds are cooked or tempered to denature proteins, release oil from the cells and inactivate enzymes.

• For example, rapeseed contains the enzyme myrosinase.

• This enzyme catalyzes hydrolysis of glucosinolates which are naturally present in rapeseed.

• During the hydrolysis process, undesirable compounds such as isothiocyanates and nitriles form.

• These compounds are soluble in oil and lower the quality of oil.

• Rapeseed is cooked in multistage cookers to keep the glucosinolates intact and inactivate the
myrosinase.

• Rapeseed is preheated to 68-122 degrees Fahrenheit in less than 5 minutes and contacted with live steam
at 248 degrees Fahrenheit.

• Since canola has much lower levels of glucosinolates than that of conventional rapeseed varieties the
cooking temperature for canola is lower (less than 212 degrees Fahrenheit).

• Cooked seeds are immediately pressed to separate oil.

• Cooking also gives seeds proper elasticity for efficient pressing.

• Cooking at high temperature is not necessary for sunflower seeds.

• Cracked and dehulled soybeans are conditioned/tempered by increasing the temperature to 149 degrees
Fahrenheit and adjusting the moisture by using live steam.

• Conditioning is done in rotating drums with an internal steam coil.

• Tempering improves flaking performance (separation performance) and extraction efficiency.

 Winterization of Oil

• Winterisation:

• Cooling oil to remove high-melting components is known as winterizing.

• Winterizing oils that contain non-triglyceride compounds is frequently called dewaxing.

• Oils, such as cottonseed, fish, rice bran and partially hydrogenated soybean, contain long-chain or highly
saturated fatty acids that, during long-term storage or refrigeration, will make the oil cloudy.

• To prevent clouding, the high-melting fractions are crystallized by chilling and then separated from the
oil through filtration or centrifugation.

• Sunflower, corn, canola and rapeseed oils contain non-triglyceride compounds that create a haze, or
wax, in the oil when chilled or stored for long periods. Chilling, followed by filtration or centrifugation,
removes these compounds.

• Separation of saturated triacylglycerols from e.g. cottonseed oil and partly hydrogenated oils.

• Some oils like sunflower will present an un-pleasant turbidity at low temperature.

• This can be removed by eliminating components like waxes which solidify at low temperature.

• Some oils are dewaxed before packing so as to remove waxes, which are dissolved in the oil.

• Most of the oils do not need dewaxing as they contain little or no waxes.

• Only sunflower oil & Rice Bran oil contain appreciable quantities of wax to give a hazy appearance
during winter season due to precipitation of dissolved waxes and hence require to be dewaxed.

• Dewaxing is carried out by chilling the oil up to 10-15°C followed by filtration of precipitated solids.

• The oil thus treated gives a sparkling appearance even in winter temperatures.

• Winterisation is another name to the process of dewaxing.

• The name winterization appears as during winter when the temperature is low, waxes present in the oil
crystallizes, they give hazy appearance to the oil.

• Dewaxing:

• Separation of waxes, esters of long chain fatty acids and long chain primary alcohols present in mainly
sunflower and maize oil.

• Dewaxing may be the fifth process considered for the edible oil refining. It is not a compulsory process
and it is not required for every type of oil. Dewaxing is performed only for high wax containing oils
such as Sunflower Oil, Rice Bran Oil, Corn Oil etc.

• Description

• Dewaxing (also called winterization) of sunflower oil is essential when the oil is to be used as salad oil.
• The presence of wax makes the oil appear cloudy at room temperature.

• The oil normally becomes cloudy in 5–6h but with proper dewaxing the oil remains clear after 24h of
storage at 0˚C.

• The following steps are used to dewax sunflower oil:

• Crude oil is refined and bleached to low phosphorus (<1ppm) and low moisture content (<0.1%).

• The oil is heated to 55˚C to make sure the oil is fully liquid.

• The oil is cooled slowly to 7–8˚C.

• Cooled oil is held in a specially insulated tank with a special slow-speed mechanical agitator.

• Preferably, the oil is held for 12–24h at this temperature.

• The oil is mixed with diatomaceous earth/filter aid through an in-line mixing system and filtered through
a pressure leaf filter pre-coated with diatomaceous earth/filter aid.

• The filtered oil is collected, checked for cold test and filterable impurities, and then deodorized.

• The deodorized oil is checked again for cold test along with the other analyses listed earlier.

• Allowing the oil to stand for a time at low temperatures so that glycerides, which naturally occur in the
oil, with higher melting points solidify and can then be removed from the oil by filtering.

• Over time glycerides can degrade releasing fatty acids into the oil increasing the acidity levels and
reducing the quality.
 Assignment No. 3

Question
1. Define solvent extraction.
2. What is refining of Vegetable oil.

3. Give example of oil seeds used in oil production.

4. Describe the processing technology of oil seeds in terms of-

a) Oil seed pressing
b) Solvent extraction
5. Describe the processing technology of oil seeds in terms of purification –
a) Degumming
b) Refining
c) Bleaching
d) Deodorization
6. Give the various purification method of oil and explain any one of them.
7. Describe the oil processing (Bi-product of oil) in terms of –
a) Hydrogenation of oil
b) Plasticizing
c) Tempering
d) Winterization
8. Give the importance and uses of oils.
State and define various methods of oil analysis and its importance.
9. State and define various methods of oil analysis and its importance.