Process for treating fats and oils

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10150053-B2
Application number	US-201414783348-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Mar 25, 2014
Priority date	Apr 15, 2013
Publication date	Dec 11, 2018
Grant date	Dec 11, 2018

Abstract

Disclosed is a process for de-acidification of fats and oils, to obtain micronutrients, to obtain a fatty acid product, and recovery of refined oils, comprising: feeding pre-treated oil feed stream to a vacuum steam stripping section, stripping off volatile phases. Feeding the stripped off the volatile phases to a condensing stage providing a condensed phase and a vapour phase. Sending the condensed phase to a vacuum distillation operation and sending the vapour phase to a cold condensation stage. Subjecting the condensed phase to a vacuum distillation operation, and obtaining a high temperature distillate and a stream of volatiles. Feeding the vapour phase from the high temperature condensing stage along with the stream of volatiles from the vacuum distillation operation to the cold condensation stage obtaining a stream of non-condensable gases and a cold temperature distillate, letting the stream of non-condensable gases continue to a vacuum system, and recovering from the vacuum steam stripping section a stream of refined oil.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A process comprising:
(i) feeding a pre-treated oil feed stream to a vacuum steam stripping section, stripping off volatile phases;
(ii) feeding the stripped off the volatile phases to a first condensation stage or to a combination of a first condensation stage and a second condensation stage, obtaining a condensed phase and a vapour phase, transferring the condensed phase to a vacuum distillation operation and transferring the vapour phase to a third condensation stage, wherein the first condensation stage has a higher temperature than the second condensation stage and wherein the second condensation stage has a higher temperature than the third condensation stage;
(iii) subjecting the condensed phase to said vacuum distillation operation, and obtaining a first distillate and a stream of volatiles;
(iv) feeding the vapour phase from the first condensation stage or the vapour phase from the combination of a first condensation stage and the second condensation stage, along with the stream of volatiles from the vacuum distillation operation to the third condensation stage, obtaining a stream of non-condensable gases and a second distillate, feeding the stream of non-condensable gases to a vacuum system; and
(v) recovering from the vacuum steam stripping section a stream of refined oils.

2. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises adding a side stream of the second distillate to the vacuum distillation operation.

3. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises assisting the vacuum distillation operation with a stripping steam.

4. The process according to claim 1 , wherein (ii) is carried out in the combination of the first condensation stage and the second condensation stage, and that the process also comprises retaining and sending all or some portion of a condensed oils from the first condensation stage along with the pre-treated oil feed stream directly to the feed point of the vacuum steam stripping section or indirectly via a pre-treatment step.

5. The process according to claim 4 , wherein the process further comprises feeding the stripped off volatile phases from the vacuum steam stripping section to the first condensation stage and then to the second condensation stage, and that the process further comprises that the condensed phase and the vapour phase are obtained in the second condensation stage, sending the condensed phase to the vacuum distillation stage for vacuum distillation operation, and sending the vapour phase to the third condensation stage, obtaining in the vacuum distillation stage stream of volatiles, which stream of volatiles is transferred along with the vapour phase to the third condensation stage.

6. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the stripped off volatile phases from the vacuum steam stripping section are first fed to the first condensation stage, obtaining the condensed phase and the vapour phase, sending the condensed phase to the vacuum distillation stage for vacuum distillation operation, and sending the vapour phase to the third condensation stage, obtaining in the vacuum distillation stage stream of volatiles, which stream of volatiles is transferred along with vapour phase to the third condensation stage.

7. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the process further comprises subjecting the condensed phase to the vacuum distillation stage for vacuum distillation operation along with a side stream of the second distillate, assisting the distillation with stripping steam and obtaining the first distillate and the stream of volatiles, which stream of volatiles is transferred along with the vapour phase to the third condensation stage.

8. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the stream of volatiles along with the vapour phase are transferred to the third condensation stage obtaining a stream of non-condensable gases, which stream of non-condensable gases is sent to the vacuum system, and the second distillate, wherein the second distillate is a fatty acid product stream.

9. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the first distillate is a stream enriched in micronutrients, and the stream of refined oil comprises tri-, di- and mono-acylglycerides.

10. The process according to claim 9 , wherein the first distillate comprises tocopherols, sterols, and squalene.

11. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the vacuum steam stripping section in (i) is operating at a pressure within a range from 1 to 10 mbar.

12. The process according to claim 11 , wherein the vacuum steam stripping section in (i) is operating at a pressure within the range from 1.5 to 5 mbar.

13. The process according to claim 1 , wherein a temperature in the first condensation stage is within a range from 130 to 220° C.

14. The process according to claim 13 , wherein the temperature in the first condensation stage is within the range from 130 to 170° C.

15. The process according to claim 13 , wherein the temperature in the first condensation stage is within the range from 140 to 150° C.

16. The process according to claim 1 , wherein the vacuum distillation operation is working according to counter-current principle which comprises a stripping section and a rectification section and operates at a vacuum level within a range 1 to 5 mbar, and a temperature within a range 240 to 260° C.

17. The process according to claim 1 , wherein a temperature in the second condensation stage is within a range 130 to 170° C.

18. The process according to claim 17 , wherein the temperature in the second condensation stage is within the range 140 to 150° C.

19. The process according to claim 1 , wherein (i) comprises feeding an oily feed stream comprising volatiles, micronutrients and neutral oils, to the vacuum steam stripping section, and (i) further comprises stripping off fatty acids together with other volatiles, and neutral oils.

20. The process according to claim 19 , wherein the volatiles comprise free fatty acids and the neutral oils comprise mixtures of tri-, di- and mono-acylglycerides.

21. The process according to claim 1 , wherein a temperature in the first condensation stage is within a range from 130 to 220° C.; and
wherein the vacuum distillation operation operates at a temperature within a range 240 to 260° C.

Assignees

• Alfa Laval Corp Ab

Inventors

• Sarup Bent

Classifications

• C11B3/14

  with the use of indifferent gases or vapours, e.g. steam · CPC title

• C11B3/001

  by a combination of two or more of the means hereafter · CPC title

• B01D3/10

  Vacuum distillation (B01D3/12 takes precedence) · CPC title

• B01D5/006 Primary

  with evaporation or distillation · CPC title

• C11C1/106

  inert gases or vapors · CPC title