Crude palm oil contains a lot of water, as well as colloid, pulp and other impurities, which must be remove. Otherwise, it is easy to cause the fermentation hydrolysis of palm oil and increasing of free fatty acids. Traditional palm oil purification equipment includes oil tank, drying oven and filter press. This kind of equipment combination is complicated, costly and needs large space occupation, making it unsuitable for small scale palm oil extraction production.
By the main process of sterilizing, digesting and oil pressing, we can get Crude Palm Oil (CPO) and Palm Expeller (PE).
During digesting process, the palm kernels are separated from the fruits (palm kernel recovery). We can get Crude Palm Kernel Oil (CPKO) and Palm Kernel Expeller (PKE) through process of crushing and oil pressing.
Palm oil has the highest oil yield than other oil crops and it is known as “The King of World Oil”. The main products are palm oil and palm kernel oil, which are widely used as edible oil and industrial oil. Nowadays, the development of small palm oil processing machine has been boosted.
With the development of palm oil processing technology, there are various kinds of oil purifier and oil filter press. Their functions and application fields are also different. Now, let’s focus on how to select the most suitable crude palm oil purifier or filter press according to the characteristics of palm oil expelling or squeezing. (Related Equipment: Small Crude Palm Oil Refining Equipment Set for 1-30TPD production )
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Working Principle: With traditional oil filtering process, the fiber and some coarse particles can be filtered through prefilter. The filtered crude palm oil is transported by the oil pump into a small plate-frame filter press. After pressure filtration, the solid impurities and water in the oil are intercepted on the filter cloth, and a small amount of water is absorbed by the filter cloth. |
| Tips: As the crude palm oil contains lots of impurities, the filter cloth needs to be replaced frequently, and replacing the filter cloth needs to stop operation. The operation process is relatively tedious. Besides, during the filter pressing process, the filter cloth can only absorb a small amount of water in the oil, and cannot effectively reduce the moisture content. Therefore, traditional filter press are not suitable for palm oil filtration. | |
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Working Principle: With vacuum oil-filter, the air in the filtering tank is pumped out by the vacuum pump to form a vacuum environment. Under the action of atmospheric pressure, the crude oil enters the primary filter through the inlet pipe, and the larger particles will be cleared. And then the oil enters the heating tank, the oil is heated to around 40~75℃ and then go through the automatic oil drift valve which is automatically controlled to balance the oil in and out in the tank. The heated oil spins rapidly through the spray wing, making the oil into a semi-mist state. The water in the oil evaporates rapidly into steam and is continuously sucked into the condenser by a vacuum pump. The water vapor in the condenser is cooled and then be turned into water again and discharged. This is the whole process of vacuum oil filter to remove impurities, moisture and gas. Purified palm oil is finally got. |
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Tips: When the filtering cloth absorbs too much impurities, the pressure in the vacuum tank will increase, and the filter paper needs to be replaced in time. Due to the high impurity content of crude palm oil, this type of filter press machine also needs to change the filtering cloth frequently, which is not good for continuous operation.
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Working Principle: This type of filter integrates DZL series single-stage high-efficiency vacuum oil filter with BZ series waste oil regeneration device, adopting both physical and chemical principles.
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| Tips: Although palm oil can be completely purified, but it also faces the need to replace the filter, and expensive, and not suitable for small oil processing workshops. | |
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Working Principle: When using centrifugal oil filter machine, the crude palm oil is rotated at high speed. The oil, water and impurities can be separated rapidly by different centrifugal forces to achieve the aim of separating, delaminating or settling solids in liquid. The separated impurities are attached to the impurity collecting cover. You only need to clear the cover regularly. In addition, because the density of water is higher than that of oil, under the action of centrifugal force, water is separated from the oil and stored in the dish in the rotor, and can be cleaned easily. The separated oil flows out directly through gravity.
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| Tips: Centrifugal oil filter machine is easy to operate, with high safety and competitive price. It is suitable for both small scale and large scale palm oil processing factories. However, the filtered oil may contain a small amount of water and pulp. | |
To sum up, all kinds of oil filtering machines have different characteristics. They have different advantages and disadvantages for crude palm oil filtration. In order to get purified palm oil, vacuum oil filter and multi-function oil filer is suggested. If the budget is limited, vacuum oil filter should be a good choice, which also matches with small palm oil processing equipment.
