Edible oil refining processes in edible oil refinery plant are to refine the crude cooking oil, get rid of impurities. And then get the high quality edible oil. The common refining processes are degumming, deacidification, decolorization and deodorization. Some oilseeds need dewaxing or fractionation. Now, let’s discuss it together.
Processes:
Degumming and deacidification processes:
Degumming is the first and basic step in the crude oil refinery plant, degumming process aims to removing the gum impurities in the crude oil to make it suitable for further refinery process, hydration degumming and special acid degumming are the two main methods. Water-degumming is suitable for most oilseeds. While acid-degumming is often used for palm oil. At the same time, deacidification is carried out. Chemical deacidification is often used, that is, adding alkali liquor into crude oil to neutralize with free fatty acids, so as to achieve the effect of deacidification. At the end, the soaps got from reactions are separated from the oil.
Decolorization
Decolorization, also called bleaching, is to remove color pigments contained in Neutralized Oil. At present, the most widely used method is adsorption, that is, the clay with strong adsorption capacity is added into the oil, and the pigment and other impurities in the oil are removed by adsorption under heating. After lowering the bleached oil temperature, pump the oil and clay mixture into vibrating filter to remove the waste clay, and the decolorization process is finished.

Deodorization：
Generally speaking, deodorization process is the final stage in edible oil refining process. The decolorized oil is subjected to steam distillation under condition of high temperature and vacuum to remove bad smell, free fatty acids and other undesired minor components.

Generally, many kinds of oils in edible oil refinery plant have been refined after the above four processes. But some oils need dewaxing and separation because of their own particularity. Now, let’s move on to dewaxing and fractionation.

Dewaxing:
Sunflower seed oil, corn germ oil, rice bran oil, cottonseed oil  need dewaxing to change quality and improve flavor. The existence of wax not only affects the transparency and taste of oil, but also affects the health of human body. Dewaxing is a process of separating high melting point wax and high melting point solid grease from oil by cooling and crystallization, and then removing them by filtration or centrifugal separation.

The above is a brief analysis of processes in edible oil refinery plant. There will be a little difference in refining steps of different oil products. Our company can design specific refining process and equip with corresponding equipment according to your oilseed and daily production.