The edible/vegetable oil processing industry involves the extraction and processing of oils and fats from a variety of fruits, seeds, and nuts. Vegetable oils and fats are principally used for human consumption but are also used in animal feed, for medicinal purposes, and for certain technical applications.
The extraction processes are generally mechanical (boiling for fruits, pressing for seeds and nuts) or involve the use of solvent such as hexane. After boiling, the liquid oil is skimmed; after pressing, the oil is filtered; and after solvent extraction, the crude oil is separated, and the solvent is evaporated and recovered.
Heat Exchangers are one of the main parts of the process line to elaborate edible oil. Heat exchangers are designed to achieve the process, but also to optimize the energy consumption by including economizers, heaters, and coolers. However, the crude vegetable oil components such as solids, dust, waxes, and other physical impurities / contaminations could result fouling in
the heat exchangers. Moreover, the heat exchangers usually operate at high temperature (> 100°C) and / or with frequent temperature variations that could accelerate the fouling process.
The impact of fouling is obvious that lead to unit shutdowns for fouling removal and cleaning. Therefore, production losses and maintenances costs are impacting heavily the actual cost of the final product.
Klaren International offers continuous cleaning solutions for either new or revamped heat exchangers active in edible oil refineries. Please contact us to learn more about our solution and experience.
Contact us for the feasibility report and further discussion.
