GB214478A - A continuous process for recovering oils from oilseeds - Google Patents

Abstract

214,478. Fauth, P. L. May 28, 1923. Extracting and purifying fatty oils.-In a continuous process for obtaining oil from seeds the successive operations of pressing, extracting by solvents, and refining are conducted at such temperatures as to reduce cooling and reheating to a minimum. The crushed seed is passed into an automatic press 1 from which the oil at about 45-50‹ C. flows through a pipe 25 to a filter 20 and a purifier 22, and the pressed cake falls to a breaker 2 and a countercurrent solventextraction apparatus 3, 5. Solvent of high specific gravity, e.g. trichlorethylene, flows from the tank 10 through a pipe 11, a jacketed extraction cylinder 5, a pipe 12, a pump 13, an extraction cylinder 3, a pipe 14, and the filter press 20 to the purifier 22. The broken cake is conveyed upwards through the cylinders, is passed through a roller press 15 to squeeze out extract, and then falls at about 50‹ C. through a pipe 4 to one or more similar extraction cylinders 5 and presses 16. The exhausted meal is freed from residual solvent and dried by passage through a heater 17 connected to a vacuum pump. The pressed oil and extract are admitted to the purifier 22 in such proportions as to furnish a combined solution of about 25 per cent strength. After the purifier has been connected through a valve 35 to a vacuum apparatus this solution is agitated at about 50‹ C. with the calculated quantity of lye admitted in a very finely divided condition through a perforated coil 32. When saponification of the acids is complete the stirrer is stopped, and after the soap has risen to the surface a saturated solution of common salt is passed in through the pipe 32 to complete the separation of the soap. The extract solution is then forced by a pump 41 to a still 43 in which the solvent is carried away by steam to a condenser 45 connected to a water separator 46 from which the solvent. is raised by a pump 47 to the tank 10. The oil passes from the steamer 43 at about 120‹ C., and is trickled down a chamber 49 against a current of steam to remove the last traces of solvent. At about 110-120‹ C. it is run into a tank 55 and agitated with a bleaching earth, pumped through a filter-press 60 which may be heated to 110-120‹ C., and deodorized by a countercurrent of steam in one or more deodorizers 62 connected to condensers 71, receivers 72, and a vacuum pump 73. The oil is drawn out through a cooler 65, and is raised by a pump 66 to a tank 68 from which it is run through a filter press 69 to storage tanks. The soap and salt water remaining in the purifier 22 are run off through a pipe 51 to a boiler 50 in which traces of solvent are removed by boiling and direct steam, and the soap is dried.