How to Reduce FFA in Palm Oil?
During the production of palm oil, crude oil contains a high level of free fatty acids (FFA). These free fatty acids not only affect the quality of the oil, but may also accelerate the rancidity process of the oil and shorten its shelf life. Therefore, deacidification has become an indispensable step in palm oil refining. Palm oil deacidification is one of the key links in the palm oil refining process and plays an important role in improving the quality, stability and safety of palm oil. But why is deacidification required during palm oil refining process? How to reduce FFA in palm oil?
Specifically, deacidification has the following effects on improving the quality of oil:
- Improve oil quality: Removing FFA can improve the taste, color and stability of the finished oil.
- Extend shelf life: Reducing FFA can reduce the oxidation rate of oil, thereby extending the storage life of the finished oil.
- Improve processing performance: Removing FFA helps improve the effect of subsequent refining steps, such as decolorization and deodorization.
Palm oil refining usually adopts physical refining process, so deacidification is to use the characteristics of FFA being more volatile than triglycerides under high temperature and vacuum conditions, and to evaporate and precipitate FFA through steam heating.
The specific operation process is:
1) Heating: Heat the crude palm oil to a certain temperature (usually above 250°C) and carry out under vacuum conditions.
2) Steam heating: Use steam to heat the crude oil to volatilize FFA.
3) Separation: FFA are extracted under vacuum and separated from triglycerides.
4) Cooling: The deacidified oil needs to be cooled to a safe temperature for subsequent processing.
Palm oil deacidification process is a key step to improve the quality of palm oil. This process can effectively remove FFA, improve the stability of oil products and extend their shelf life. Huatai Oil Machinery can configure palm oil deacidification solutions according to the customer’s palm oil acid value. Welcome to consult:
Website: https://palmoilmachine.com
Email: [email protected]
