Other components in oils and fats other than triglycerides are called impurities.

The function of sunflower seed oil refining equipment is to remove impurities in sunflower seed crude oil, maintain the biological properties of oil, and retain or extract useful substances. In fact, refining equipment does not remove all impurities, but selectively removes impurities.

According to the composition and properties of impurities in sunflower seed crude oil, it can be divided into three categories:

(1) Insoluble solid impurities, such as sediment, cake powder, fiber, clay, catalyst, etc.

(2) Peptizing impurities, such as free fatty acids, sterols, vitamin E, pigments, vitamins, gossypol, etc.

(3) Volatile impurities, such as water, alcohols, hydrocarbon solvents, odorous substances, etc.

Most impurities are detrimental to oil quality and storage safety. For example, moisture not only affects the transparency of oil but also promotes the hydrolysis and rancidity of oil; free fatty acids affect the flavor and promote deterioration; Foaming, bitterness, etc.; various pigments directly affect oil color, and also promote oil rancidity; the existence of gum, sulfur-containing, phosphorus compounds, soapstock, heavy metal salts, etc., makes it difficult for subsequent processes such as stripping and deacidification.

The main process of sunflower oil refining equipment

(1) Degumming: remove phospholipids, mucus, resins, proteins, sugars, trace metals, etc. in crude oil, generally using hydration, acid refining, etc.

(2) Deacidification: remove free fatty acids, acid pigments, sulfides, insoluble impurities and trace metals in oil by neutralization with food-grade lye.

(3) Washing: Wash away the soapstock and water-soluble impurities remaining in the oil during the deacidification process.

(4) Dehydration: Use heating and vacuum drying to remove the water in the refined oil.

(5) Decolorization: Use clay, aluminum silicate, activated carbon and other adsorbents to remove various pigments, colloids, oxides, etc. in the oil.

(6) Deodorization: The principle of vacuum stripping is used to remove low-molecular odor substances, free fatty acids, monoglycerides, diglycerides, sulfides, and thermal decomposition products of pigments in oil.

(7) Dewaxing or degreasing: Freezing, crystallization or winterization crystallization, and fractionation are mainly used to remove waxy fat or solid fat in oil.

A set of small sunflower oil refining equipment costs tens of thousands of usd. It mostly depends on how much oil you produce and how much you process. Because the output determines the specifications of the refining equipment, the larger the output, the higher the price; the degree of refining determines which process links the refining equipment includes, such as the production of general edible oil, deacidification, degreasing, filtration, etc.

If the traditional process of producing ordinary edible oil includes degumming, deacidification, decolorization, deodorization, etc., but if dewaxing is often required for first-grade edible oil, the cost of edible oil refining equipment will be higher at this time. In addition, the material (carbon steel, stainless steel) and quality of refining equipment are also factors that affect the price of refining equipment.