Oil extraction and refining equipment

I. Overview
Oil refining equipment is the core device in the production of edible oil, biodiesel and industrial oil, which is mainly used to remove impurities, free fatty acids, pigments, odor and other harmful substances in crude oil, and to improve the purity, color, flavor and storage stability of fats and oils. Its process level directly affects the market competitiveness of oil products, and is an indispensable link in the oil processing industry chain.

Refining process and core equipment
A complete refining production line usually includes five steps of degumming, deacidification, dehydration, decolorization and deodorization, and the corresponding equipments are as follows:
Degumming: through the mixing tank, centrifuge and other equipment, the use of hydration and acidification to remove phospholipids, proteins and other colloidal impurities.
Deacidification: using neutralization tower (NaOH neutralization) or distillation device to remove free fatty acids and reduce acid price.
Dehydration: Remove residual water and trace impurities by using vacuum dryer or centrifugal separator.
Decolorization: Adsorb chlorophyll, carotene and other pigmented substances in oils and fats by means of white earth filter.
Deodorization: use water vapor distillation equipment, high temperature to remove aldehydes, ketones and other volatile odor components.
Third, the type and characteristics of equipment
Intermittent refining equipment
Applicable scene: small batch, multi-species oil and grease processing (such as special oil and grease).
Advantages: low investment cost, flexible operation, suitable for process adjustment.
Limitations: lower production efficiency, more manual intervention.
Continuous refining equipment
Scenario: large-scale industrialized production (e.g. soybean oil, rapeseed oil).
Advantages: high degree of automation, daily processing capacity up to hundreds of tons, low energy consumption.
Limitations: complex equipment, high initial investment.
Fourth, technological innovation and application expansion
Energy saving and environmental protection upgrade
Waste heat recovery system: use steam condensate from deodorization process to preheat crude oil and reduce energy consumption.
Wastewater treatment module: integrated phospholipids recovery device, realizing the resourceful utilization of wastewater.
Intelligent control
Introducing IoT sensors and AI algorithms, real-time monitoring of key indicators such as acid value and peroxide value of oil and grease, and dynamic adjustment of process parameters.
Multi-field application
Biodiesel: Transform gutter oil into clean energy through ester exchange reaction equipment.
Lubricant refining: increase the molecular distillation device to improve the base oil quality of industrial lubricants.
V. Market Trends and Development Direction
High-end demand: special oils and fats (such as linseed oil, camellia oil) refining equipment needs to be integrated with low-temperature deodorization, nitrogen preservation technology.
Modular design: for emerging markets such as Africa and Southeast Asia, develop movable refining units to reduce transportation costs.
Carbon neutral target: Promote electric heating to replace steam boilers to reduce carbon emissions and meet green factory certification standards.
As the core link of oil and grease processing, the technology iteration of oil extraction and refining equipment not only promotes the industry to develop in the direction of high efficiency and cleanliness, but also guards the health of consumers by improving the quality of oil products. In the future, with the deep integration of intelligent manufacturing and sustainable concepts, refining equipment will play a more critical role in the global oil supply chain.