Development of a small‐size processing line for production of safflower oil

Abstract

AbstractThere is growing interest in exploring new types of cultivated plants that offer unique health benefits. Safflower is a promising plant nutrition resource that has gained popularity in Kazakhstan and worldwide. However, one of the pressing issues is improving the consumption pattern of food products, including vitamins and microelements. This article aims to develop a small‐scale processing line for safflower oil production in small enterprises of the cereal‐processing industry. The primary focus is on purifying safflower from impurities and husks, as well as compressing and centrifuging the oil raw material for high‐quality and biologically valuable product. The authors developed a processing line consisting of a sheller‐compress and a centrifuge of original constructions for separating husks from the kernel and compressing and centrifuging the oil raw material. The process combines husking, compressing, filtration, and sedimentation to ensure primary purification of plant oils and the removal of mechanical impurities. The production of safflower oil has become an urgent task due to its rich composition of vitamins and phospholipids. The newly developed processing line ensures the production of high‐quality safflower oil and has great potential for small enterprises in the cereal‐processing industry. The article highlights the importance of primary purification of plant oils and its impact on the quality of the final product.Practical applicationsThe following conclusions emerged from the research. The relevance of fat oil growing, including signs of increased popularity of safflower oil in Kazakhstan and in the world has been studied. Various types (husking, compressing, sedimentation, centrifuging and filtering) of primary purification of safflower and purification of oil from mechanical impurities have been investigated. The dependence of extraction of pressed safflower oil on the speed of rotation of the filter and settling rotor and the equipment structure itself has been studied. The sheller‐compress for purification of safflower has been developed to combine husking and compressing processes to increase the oil content of the processed oil raw material and the productivity of the processing equipment. The centrifuge is designed for primary purification of safflower oil from mechanical impurities, allowing to combine the sedimentation and filtering processes due to rotors and to obtain purified safflower oil. The problem of intensification of the purification process is characterized by the ratio of different defined parameters. As a result, optimum parameters were determined and a processing line was developed with the use of a sheller‐compress and a centrifuge with a filtering and pre.