Home > News > Industry News What is the working principle of vegetable oil solvent extraction plant? Is it safe?
Solvent extraction is one of the conventional methods to produce vegetable oil. It uses vegetable oil solvent extraction plant, it uses the mutual solubility of solvent and oil to extract the oil in the oil plant into the solvent by spraying and infiltrating the solvent and mixed oil for a long time, and then uses the difference between the boiling point of solvent and oil to separate the solvent and oil by Vacuum distillation, where the solvent is condensed and recycled; The solvent containing meal is thoroughly separated from the meal through steps such as pre-evaporation, evaporation, drying and cooling. The solvent is recycled and reused, and the meal enters the crushing and packaging workshop.
Complete vegetable oil solvent extraction process
Firstly, there is the leaching section: the pre-treated or pressed cake is put into the extractor by the conveying equipment, fully in contact with organic solvents, and soaked for a period of time. The oil is replaced from the cake using the principle of organic solvents dissolving with oil. The wet meal and mixed oil obtained after replacement are sent to other systems in the leaching workshop for further processing.
Next is the evaporation and stripping of mixed oil: the oil obtained from the extractor is a mixture of crude oil and solvent, with a concentration generally of 10% -40%. In order to obtain the crude oil, we need to treat the mixed oil and separate the solvent from the vegetable oil. Due to the different boiling points between vegetable oil and solvents, the solvent in the mixed oil is evaporated using an evaporator and a stripper, combined with high-temperature steam, to separate it from the vegetable oil.
Four sections of vegetable oil solvent extraction
The third is wet meal desolvation: The cake obtained from the leaching system is often referred to as wet meal, which generally contains 20% -40% solvent and needs to be processed through the wet meal desolvation process. The main purpose is to separate the organic solvents in the meal, recover and reuse this solvent, and achieve the goal of reducing production costs. Wet meal desolvation is mainly divided into three stages:
1. Pre dissolution: The process of taking certain measures to reduce the content of wet meal. The purpose is to reduce the amount of steam consumed during the steam desorption process, reduce energy consumption, and at the same time reduce the moisture condensed in the meal after steam desorption.
2. Direct steam desorption: By using direct steam to pass through the material layer, the two come into contact and cause the meal to boil and evaporate, effectively removing residual solvents from the meal.
3. Baking: The process of drying and removing water. Mainly used to remove the increased moisture and original moisture content during the dehydration of the meal by water vapor condensation. The roasted meal is heated by indirect steam.
The final step is solvent recovery: during the leaching process, especially in the mixed oil evaporation stripping and wet meal desolvation sections, a large amount of solvent becomes vapor gas. The solvent recovery system is to recover the solvent from the leaching process, achieving the purpose of recycling and production safety, while ensuring that the wastewater and exhaust gas meet emission standards. The main sections include condensation, water separation, cooking, solvent turnover, and tail gas treatment.
Vegetable oil solvent extraction plants
Vegetable oil solvent extraction plant extracts vegetable oil is a very mature vegetable oil processing technology. It has the characteristics of low loss, low processing cost, low energy consumption, and high oil yield. Bringing continuous returns to investors.
Compared to the pressing process for producing vegetable oil, using flammable and explosive chemical solvents for vegetable oil processing poses certain risks. But our engineers can provide the most suitable production and installation suggestions based on actual on-site needs. At the same time, efficient technical design, strict requirement of equipment quality by the factory, and improved operational processes. This eliminates the need for users to worry too much about production safety.
If you want to learn more about vegetable oil solvent extraction plant, please feel free to contact us at any time.
