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Optimization of Deacidification of Mixtures of Sunflower Oil and Oleic Acid in a Continuous Process
Author(s) -
Prieto González M. M.,
Bada J. C.,
León M.,
Graciani E.
Publication year - 2007
Publication title -
journal of the american oil chemists' society
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.512
H-Index - 117
eISSN - 1558-9331
pISSN - 0003-021X
DOI - 10.1007/s11746-007-1057-1
Subject(s) - sunflower oil , distillation , oleic acid , chemistry , volumetric flow rate , chromatography , fatty acid , nitrogen , pulp and paper industry , organic chemistry , food science , biochemistry , thermodynamics , physics , engineering
Mixtures of refined sunflower seed oil and oleic acid were deacidified using nitrogen as stripping gas in a pilot‐plant scale continuous deodorizer. To optimize the process, two different levels were tested for the classical operating parameters of oil temperature, nitrogen flow rates, oil mass flow rates and initial free fatty acid contents. In addition, two heating procedures were tested, including one using separate electrical heating of the oil and gas distillates to maintain the same temperature in both parts of the deodorizer, and another in which only the oil was heated and controlled, resulting in a temperature difference between the oil and the gas distillates. The statistical technique of blocking with paired comparisons was used to analyze the final free fatty acid content, rate of free fatty acid loss with respect to the processed oil flow rate, free fatty acid content in the distillates recovered by condensation, and efficiency. The results showed that the oil temperature and maintaining the same temperature in the oil and the gas distillates produced the most relevant effects, having a positive effect on most of the responses.