Patent Application
20160053199
The present invention relates to a method and apparatus for extracting virgin olive oil from olives and other oil-fruits.
As it is well known, currently the systems for extracting mechanically the virgin olive oils from olives are basically of two types: systems of discontinuous type and systems of continuous type.
The systems of discontinuous type, generally constituted by a grinder combined with hydraulic presses, generally have a low work capacity and inevitably request a lot of manpower. For these reasons they are considered obsolete and they are disappearing, replaced by systems of continuous type.
The systems defined of continuous type generally are constituted by a mechanical crusher, a malaxator and a centrifugal separator with horizontal axis (decanter).
The designation “continuous” relates to the fact that two of the three machines composing the system operate continuously (crusher and decanter), the malaxator, which actually is a machine operating in batches, is placed between these two continuous apparatuses.
Traditionally, the malaxation phase consists in mixing slowly (12-18 revolutions per minute) the olive paste at 27-32° C. for a period of time comprised between 30 and 60 minutes depending upon the features of the raw material. The malaxation purpose is to promote the coalescence of the tiny oil drops in drops with greater sizes which can be separated more easily in a centrifugal field on one hand, to reduce the olive paste viscosity value so as to optimize the phase separation inside the decanter (oil/vegetable water/pomace) on the other hand.
The malaxation phase actually represents the “bottleneck” of the continuous extraction process. Currently the system used to guarantee continuity to the process, without interrupting the activity of the machines upstream and downstream of the malaxator, consists in placing several malaxating machines parallelly with the burden of a strong plant investment. The oil mills which are not equipped with several malaxators placed parallelly actually operate in a discontinuous way and they do not fully exploit the work capacity of crusher and decanter.
One of the critical factors determining so long malaxation time is constituted by the period necessary so that the just crushed olive paste reaches the traditional process temperature (27-32° C.). Such period on the average lasts at least one third of the total malaxation time as the olive paste outgoing from the crusher can have temperatures comprised between 18 and 26° C. depending upon the temperature of the environment wherein one operates and upon the used crusher type.
The current malaxators available on the market, from a plant point of view, are not efficient heat exchangers due to an unfavourable volume/surface ratio which translates into a limited heat exchange area for a huge mass of olive paste.
As it is known, in the traditional conventional techniques for heating the olive paste, controlled by convection and conduction mechanisms, the whole heat energy existing in the heating fluid must cross the olive paste mass: the heat flow speed is function of the heat gradient existing between the two fluids and the olive paste thermal diffusivity.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to solve the problems still left opened by the known art and this is obtained by a method as defined in claim 1.
An additional object of the present invention is an apparatus suitable to operate in batches and/or continuously and to be installed on traditional or new lines allowing to make the whole process operating under all (normal, vacuum-sealed, modified or controlled) atmosphere conditions as defined in claim 13.
The present invention, by overcoming the problems of known art, involves several and evident advantages.
In particular, the present invention allows reducing the production time by guaranteeing the product quality level. The modularity of the industrial plants for the mechanical extraction of virgin olive oils from olives allows inserting such device even on already existing transformation lines.
The optimization of the line work capacity allows reducing the number of malaxators placed parallelly with a consequent reduction in the initial investments, furthermore it may guarantee a construction simplification of the malaxators which from jacketed heat exchangers can be converted into simple insulated stirring tanks with additional saving in the plant costs.
Furthermore it may determine an increase in the extraction yields and a reduction in the by-products with increase in the profits obtainable from the product.
The advantages of the method for microwave dielectric heating in the extraction of virgin olive oil from olives and other oil-fruits with respect to the conventional one are:
Other advantages, together with the features and the use modes of the present invention will result evident from the following detailed description of preferred embodiments thereof, shown by way of example and not for limitative purpose, by referring to the figures of the enclosed drawings, wherein:
The present invention will be described hereinafter by referring to the above-mentioned figures.
Microwaves are not-ionizing electromagnetic waves with wavelength comprised between 1 mm (v=300 GHz) and 1 m (v=300 MHz), situated in the spectrum area between the frequencies of infrared and that of the radio waves.
Table 1 shows ISM frequencies, allowed for Industrial, Scientific and Medical purposes.
The effects of thermal nature of microwaves show considerably exclusively for substances with dipole moment. The “heat” effect can then be explained by the energy absorption by the polar molecules in the liquids or solids interacting with the oscillating electric field determined by the radiation (dielectric heating). The higher the substance polarity, the higher its capability of absorbing heat from microwaves will be.
Even in the considered case the thermal transfer inside the mass of unbroken or crushed olives by means of microwaves is no more conditioned by the surface diffusivity and temperature, as it took place in the conventional process, consequently the heating time can be reduced even to less than 1% of the one requested by the traditional techniques. In fact, exactly thanks to the high penetration depth thereof, sufficient to involve the whole mass of the unbroken or crushed fruits, it results to be much faster than the conventional one, essentially superficial and generated by a temperature gradient with respect to the outer heat source. While the latter in fact requests minutes or hours, the dielectric one needs no more than few seconds or minutes.
Therefore, according to the present invention, a method for extracting oil from olives and oil-fruits is provided wherein the heat necessary to extract the lipid matrix is administered to the unbroken or crushed olives by using a dielectric heating device by means of microwaves which can operate in batches (oven) or continuously (tunnel) in traditional or new lines and under all (normal, vacuum-sealed, modified and controlled) atmosphere conditions.
The process according to the present invention is outlined in the flow diagram of
The thermal treatment of olive paste in the traditional systems takes place by means of a slow and ineffective conduction/convection mechanism, therefore the present invention proposes to accelerate the paste heating by means of treating the olives or the olive paste itself with a microwave dielectric system.
The microwave dielectric heating treatment can be performed, indifferently with the same device, onto the olives, before crushing (branch A in diagram of
In any case the reduction in the malaxation time even allows replacing the traditional malaxator with an insulated tank without the need for an outer thermal jacket for the heating fluid circulation, with an additional reduction in the plant costs.
The heating of the unbroken or crushed fruits can be performed at the traditional temperatures (27-30° C.), but it can even be used in not traditional treatments at high temperatures, therefore in a very wide range (from 20° C. to more than 200° C.).
Therefore, the thermal treatment comprises a heating at a temperature comprised between 20° C. and 250° C., preferably between 20° C. and 40 ° C., still more preferably 30° C., under all (normal, vacuum-sealed, modified and controlled) atmosphere conditions. Advantageously high temperatures can be used, up to 250° C., if the matrix is protected by means of excluding oxidizing agents such as oxygen.
Furthermore, according to the present invention, the malaxation phase can be performed at a controlled malaxation temperature, between 20° C. and 250° C., preferably at 30° C.
The use of the microwave dielectric heating method can take place by means of devices in batches (oven) and/or continuously (tunnel).
Advantageously, the method according to the present invention can provide that the crushing phase and/or the malaxation phase are performed in atmosphere, under all (normal, vacuum-sealed, modified and controlled) atmosphere conditions, preferably obtained by means of inletting a gas or a gas mixture in the crushing and/or malaxation environment or by sucking air.
By way of example such gas (or gas mixture) can be chosen among; nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, helium or a mixture of the same or other gases, brought to a higher pressure than the atmospheric pressure in the crushing and/or malaxation environment.
In this case, the microwave dielectric heating combined with a controlled or modified or vacuum-sealed effectiveness will allow to operate even at not conventional temperatures of 60°-70° C. and higher ones, by benefiting from the possibility of working even in whole oxygen absence, by protecting the product from unwished oxidations and at the same time by increasing the extraction yields and consequently the producers' gain.
The present invention is also directed to an apparatus 1 for extracting oil from olives or oil-fruits, operating according to what described sofar.
Such apparatus comprises a crusher 10 to obtain olive paste; and a malaxator 20 to malaxate said olive paste.
Furthermore, the apparatus provides a section 30 for the thermal treatment of olives or olive paste, comprising microwave dielectric heating means 30 able to operate under all (normal, vacuum-sealed, modified and controlled) atmosphere conditions.
Such microwave dielectric heating means could be provided with power and capacity features adapted to the plant sizes and to the quantities of the product to be treated and to the temperature thereat one want to operate knowing that they should be apt to perform a thermal treatment at a heating temperature comprised between 20° C. and 250° C., preferably between 20° C. and 40° , still more preferably at 30° C. The power can vary from 1500 W for small pilot plants to 30 kW for plants able to work from 3000 to 5000 kg/hour.
The modularity of the industrial plant for the mechanical extraction of the virgin olive oils from olives allows inserting the microwave heating means even on transformation lines currently already under production or already placed in the oil mills, without involving the complete renovation of the plants. To this purpose, according to the present invention the thermal treatment section can be placed upstream (as illustrated in the plant in
Furthermore, preferably, even the malaxator can comprise autonomous heating means apt to control the malaxation temperature between 20° C. and 250° C., preferably at 30° C., but it can also be replaced by a simple insulated stirring tank with addition saving in plant costs.
According to an embodiment, the crusher and/or the malaxator are apt to operate in modified or controlled or vacuum-sealed atmosphere. To this purpose, the apparatus can provide means for modifying or controlling the atmosphere of the crusher and/or the malaxator, in order to obtain a processing in modified or controlled or vacuum-sealed atmosphere. Preferably, such means for controlling or modifying the atmosphere comprise means for inletting or removing gas in the crushing and/or malaxation environment, if inlet said gas can be chosen among: nitrogen, argon, carbon dioxide, helium or other gases, said means for controlling or modifying the atmosphere being apt to bring said gas at a higher pressure than the atmospheric pressure in the crushing and/or malaxation environment.
Experimental Activity
Seed extraction tests were performed on pilot scale by using a system for heating unbroken or crushed fruits by means of microwaves.
The microwave technology was chosen as it well suits to be used in developing new processes and intensifying the existing processes.
The main advantage derives from the selective heating of the matrixes allowing both to reduce significantly the process time, with advantages both from the point of view of energy and investment costs, and from the point of view of the yield increase and by-product reduction.
The pilot tests were performed by using olives of the Coratina cultivar gathered in Bari province, transported in fenestrated trays with capacity of 30 kg filled up by ⅔ in volume and processed within 24 hours from harvesting.
The seed extraction tests were performed according to the experimental protocol shown in
For the seed extraction a pilot plant was used constituted by the following apparatuses:
a. Hammer crusher
b. Steel malaxator with water heating and stirring system with vertical axes
c. Basket centrifuge
d. Microwave heating apparatus.
The microwave apparatus used in the seed extraction tests on pilot scale was characterized by the following structural features:
Such apparatus can be set on different power levels: 300 W, 450 W, 600 W and 800 W.
For each power the dual concepts time/temperature in a range comprises between 20 and 50° C. were evaluated.
Procedure for Extracting Virgin Olive Oils
After having removed the leaves and other foreign objects, the olives were subjected to washing and divided into 500-g homogeneous lots.
The microwave dielectric heating was applied in the extraction process with three different modes (branches D, E, F of the flow diagram in
D) On the unbroken olives before crushing by applying a dual concept of time/suitable suitable to reach almost immediately 30° C., after such process a malaxation at 30° C. for 30 minutes was performed, followed by centrifugation.
E) On the olive paste immediately after crushing by applying a dual concept of time/suitable suitable to reach almost immediately 30° C., after such process a malaxation at 30° C. for 30 minutes was performed, followed by centrifugation.
F) On the olive paste immediately after crushing by applying a dual concept of time/suitable suitable to reach almost immediately 30° C. and after such process directly the extraction by centrifugation was performed.
Parallelly the traditional process for heating/malaxating the olive paste (branch C of diagram) was performed, according thereto the olives were crushed, the olive paste temperature was measured, subsequently the same was placed inside the steel tank of the malaxator dipped in water bath at 35° C. The paste was then stirred by controlling the temperature until reaching 30° C. (preheating), thereafter a malaxation at 30° C. for 30 minutes was performed.
Parallelly the oil extraction by centrifugation process was performed without heating and malaxation (branch G of diagram),
The main qualitative parameters needed to define the commercial class of the product (EEC/2568/91 and subsequent modifications) were determined on the extracted oils.
The evaluation of the influence of using microwave dielectric heating on the extraction yields of the virgin olive oil from olives was made by centrifuging 50 g of olive paste in Falcon tubes in a laboratory centrifuge (Beckman Coulter—Allegra X-22 Series) for 40 minutes:
The oil which separated from centrifugation was weighed and expressed as percentage with respect to the paste initial weight.
Test Results
Effect of the Microwave Dielectric Heating of Unbroken Olives on the Olive Paste Temperature.
Each lot was subjected to heating by applying the four power levels (300 W, 450 W, 600 W, 800 W) for different time ranges (20, 40, 60, 80, 100 seconds). After the thermal treatment the olives were crushed with mechanical crusher and the obtained olive paste temperature was measured.
Effect of the Microwave Dielectric Heating of Olive Paste on the Olive Paste Temperature
Each lot was crushed with mechanical crusher, subjected to heating by applying the four power levels (300 W, 450 W, 600 W, 800 W) for different time ranges (10, 20, 30, 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 100 sec) and at the treatment end the obtained olive paste temperature was measured.
Each lot was crushed with mechanical crusher, subjected to traditional heating in malaxator.
It may be concluded that the introduction of the microwave dielectric heating technology in the process for extracting virgin olive oil from olives reduces the time for preheating the paste to be malaxated by an average percentage of 95%.
Effect of the Microwave Dielectric Heating of Unbroken and Crushed Fruits on the Produced Oil Quality
To the purpose of evaluating the produced oil quality by using the microwave dielectric heating in the extraction process the following process conditions were taken into consideration:
a) Traditional process: crushing, preheating until 30° C., malaxation for 30 minutes at 30° C. and extraction by centrifugation;
b) Process according to the present invention: microwave dielectric heating of olives for 80 seconds at 300 W crushing, malaxation for 30 minutes at 30° C. and extraction by centrifugation;
c) Process according to the present invention: microwave dielectric heating of olives for 20 seconds at 800 W, crushing, malaxation for 30 minutes at 30° C. and extraction by centrifugation;
d) Process according to the present invention: crushing, microwave dielectric heating of paste for 50 seconds at 300 W, malaxation for 30 minutes at 30° and extraction by centrifugation;
e) Process according to the present invention: crushing, microwave dielectric heating of paste for 30 seconds at 800 W, malaxation for 30 minutes at 30° C. and extraction by centrifugation.
Table 2 shows the main analytical parameters useful to define the produced oil quality by using the microwave dielectric heating in the process for extracting oil from olives. The analytical results show that all examined samples fall in the “extra virgin” category. The microwave dielectric heating of unbroken and crushed fruits at the tested temperature does not cause alterations in the oil so as to cause a decay of the commercial class.
In order to complete the framework of the product evaluation, the extracted oils were subjected to a tasting panel constituted by five tasters chosen among the technical personnel and the researchers trained for the product evaluation. All examined samples showed a pleasant fruity taste and had no defects.
Effect of the Microwave Dielectric Heating of Unbroken and Crushed Fruits on the Extraction Yields
To the purpose of evaluating the effect of the microwave dielectric heating of the unbroken and crushed fruits on the extraction yields the following tests were performed:
By comparing the samples not subjected to microwave dielectric heating one can observe that the malaxated sample (branch C of the diagram in
By observing the values of the samples treated with microwave dielectric heating at 800 W one notes that, even in absence of malaxation, therefore of the prolonged period of time under stirring at controlled temperature, considerable oil quantities (branch F of the diagram in
By comparing the sample malaxated in traditional way (branch C of the diagram in
The present invention has been sofar described by referring to preferred embodiments thereof. It is to be meant that each one of the technical solutions implemented in the preferred embodiments herein described by way of example, could advantageously be combined differently therebetween, to implement other embodiments, belonging to the same inventive core and all however comprised within the protective scope of the herebelow reported claims.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IT2013/000079 | 3/18/2013 | WO | 00 |
