Green Vegetable Oil Processing

Revsied First Edition

Walter E. Farr, Andrew Proctor

• Publisher: Academic Press and AOCS Press
• Year: 2013
• Print ISBN: 9780988856530
• eBook ISBN: 9780983057208
• Topic: Technology & Engineering
• Subtopic: Food Science
• Index: Technology & Engineering

Alternative green food processing technologies have gained much technical and industrial attention in recent years as a potential means of reducing costs and promoting consumer awareness of corporate environmental responsibility. However, utilizing green principles is now becoming an effective business approach to enhance vegetable oil processing profitability. Two years have passed since the first edition of Green Vegetable Oil Processing was published. The Revised First Edition includes much of the content of the first edition, but incorporates updated data, details, images, figures, and captions.  This book addresses alternative green technologies at various stages of oilseed and vegetable oil processing. This includes oil extraction technologies such as expeller, aqueous and supercritical methods, and green modifications of conventional unit operations such as degumming, refining, bleaching, hydrogenation, winterizing/dewaxing, fractionation, and deodorization. While most chapters describe soy oil processing, the techniques described equally applicable to oils and fats in general. - Documents the current state of green oil processing technologies available today - Addresses alternative green technologies at various stages of oilseed processing - Includes technologies already in commercial use and some that are still in developmental stages

1

Extrusion/Expeller^® Pressing as a Means of Processing Green Oils and Meals

Vincent J. Vavpot, Robert J. Williams and Maurice A. Williams, Anderson International Corp, Cleveland, Ohio, USA

Introduction

Today, there is much interest in “green processing.” This catchy term has a specific meaning, which can be obtained from the Internet. It means “any process that is safe, economical, and environmentally friendly” (http://www.eng.uwo.ca/chemical/green-new.htm). Put into different words, it means any process that has little or no impact on the environment and also any process that optimizes the use of energy for processing. Another catchy term is “organic food.” “Organic foods” (from Wikipedia) means those foods “that are produced using environmentally sound methods that do not involve modern synthetic inputs such as pesticides and chemical fertilizers, do not contain genetically modified organisms, and are not processed using irradiation, industrial solvents, or chemical food additives” (http://www.wikipedia.org/wiki/Organic_food).

Vegetable oils are, today, obtained by either solvent extraction or by mechanically crushing the oil-containing seeds that come from the farmlands. Solvent extraction does impact the environment because of the effluent streams of unrecoverable solvent vapors, and solvent extraction also brings food materials into contact with the solvent, which, today, is undesirable. All manufacturers of oil processing equipment should be aware of both the green processing and the organic foods expectations of those who buy machinery for oil processing.

Mechanical screw presses have been manufactured for more than 100 years. Since mechanical screw pressing is an alternative to solvent extraction, if someone wishes to produce oils for human foods that comply with the expectations of organic, a mechanical screw press would be a proven piece of equipment to use. The title of this chapter coincides with redesign criteria that some manufacturing companies have been considering for the past several years. It is the authors’ pleasure to discuss here what is being done to better adapt screw presses and extruders for green processing and organic foods production. Since the authors are already on a committee doing this work, we have a great deal to say about the subject. To be fair to other manufacturers of screw presses and extruders, we have also invited them to consider adding their own input on how their companies are responding to the challenges presented by green processing and organic foods.

Mechanical Screw Presses

The mechanical screw press was developed at a time when labor was inexpensive and capital equipment costs were of concern (Shahidi, 2005). Today, labor costs are very high, and any simplification of time-consuming maintenance procedures would, of course, make mechanical screw presses much more attractive. Also, when the mechanical screw press was first introduced, concerns about the environment were minimal. Today, however, these concerns are a major consideration when operating modern processing plants. So, with these considerations in mind, we would like to discuss what some manufacturers are doing to upgrade their mechanical screw press and extrusion systems to address both green processing and organic foods concerns.

The major objectives of green processing are optimization of the use of energy and having minimal or no impact on the environment. One could also specify reduction in labor costs, particularly in replacement of wear parts, especially the replacement of worn choke parts. Optimization in the use of energy would entail consuming less electrical energy by operating with better prepared oilseeds, by using motors that are more efficient, a...

Table of contents

• Cover image
• Title page
• Table of Contents
• Copyright
• Preface
• Chapter 1: Extrusion/Expeller® Pressing as a Means of Processing Green Oils and Meals
• Chapter 2: Modern Aqueous Oil Extraction—Centrifugation Systems for Olive and Avocado Oils
• Chapter 3: Aqueous Extraction of Corn Oil After Fermentation in the Dry Grind Ethanol Process
• Chapter 4: Drying and Cooling Collets from Expanders with Major Energy Saving
• Chapter 5: Algae Drying and Extraction
• Chapter 6: Enzymatic Degumming
• Chapter 7: Nano Neutralization™
• Chapter 8: Physical Refining of Vegetable Oils
• Chapter 9: Conservation of Energy and Resources in Hydrogen Generation and in Hydrogenation
• Chapter 10: Dry Condensing Vacuum Systems for Deodorizers for Substantial Energy Savings
• Chapter 11: Enzymatic Interesterification
• Chapter 12: CLA Production by Photo-isomerization of Linoleic Acid in Linoleic Acid Rich Oils
• Contributors
• Index