The Ultimate Guide to Choosing Oil Distillation Plant

Utilized across diverse industries, distillation plays a crucial role in processes ranging from chemistry and petrochemicals to food and beverage production. So it's a method that separates different components in a liquid mixture based on their boiling points. Whether you're a seasoned professional or just getting started, choosing the right distillation equipment supplier is crucial for achieving your desired results. In this step-by-step guide, we'll break down the process of selecting the perfect distillation equipment for your needs in simple language.

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Step 1: Define Your Objectives

While before diving into the world of distillation equipment, it's essential to define your objectives. 

Ask yourself the following questions:

• What kind of liquid mixture are you looking to separate?
• What is the desired purity level of the components you want to collect?
• How much material do you need to process in a given time frame?
• What are your budget constraints?

Having clear answers to these questions will help you narrow down your options and set your priorities.

For instance, imagine you are a chemist working in a research laboratory. So your objective is to separate a mixture of organic compounds into their individual components for further analysis. You aim for a high level of purity in the separated compounds to ensure accurate research results.

Step 2: Understand the Basics of Distillation Equipment

To make an informed decision, you need to understand the basics of distillation equipment. 

Here are some key terms and concepts:

1. Distillation Apparatus:

• Boiling Flask: The container where the liquid mixture is initially heated.
• Distillation Column: A vertical structure that allows the separation of components based on their boiling points.
• Condenser: Cools the vapor back into a liquid.
• Receiver Flask: Collects the separated components.

2. Types of Distillation:

• Simple Distillation: Separates components with significantly different boiling points.
• Fractional Distillation: Useful when components have closer boiling points.
• Vacuum Distillation: Operates under reduced pressure, allowing for lower boiling points.

Suppose you work in a pharmaceutical company, and you need to purify a mixture of chemicals with similar boiling points. In this case, fractional distillation would be your preferred method to achieve precise separation.

3. Heating Methods:

• Direct Heat: Heat is applied directly to the boiling flask.
• Steam Distillation: Uses steam to heat the mixture.

Imagine you are a student in a chemistry lab. So your experiment involves the distillation of a volatile compound with a low boiling point. You would use a steam distillation setup, ensuring gentle heating to prevent compound degradation.

4. Material of Construction:

• Glass: Suitable for laboratory-scale distillation.
• Stainless Steel: Common in industrial applications.

While let's say you work in a food processing plant, and you need to distill alcohol for flavor extraction in beverages. In this food-safe environment, you would choose stainless steel distillation equipment due to its resistance to corrosion and suitability for food applications.

Step 3: Consider the Scale of Operation

The scale of your distillation operation matters. Are you working on a small scale in a laboratory or a large-scale industrial operation? 

Distillation equipment varies significantly in size and capacity. Here are some common options:

• Laboratory Scale: Ideal for research and development, these systems are compact and designed for small batches.
• Pilot Scale: Suitable for scaling up experiments before full-scale production.
• Industrial Scale: These large setups are built for high-capacity distillation processes.

Choose equipment that aligns with the scale of your operation to maximize efficiency.

Step 4: Evaluate the Type of Distillation

The type of distillation you need depends on the properties of your mixture. 

Here's a brief overview:

• Simple Distillation: Use this method when the components have significantly different boiling points.
• Fractional Distillation: Choose fractional distillation if your components have closer boiling points and need precise separation.
• Vacuum Distillation: Opt for vacuum distillation to lower the boiling points of sensitive compounds.

Step 5: Material of Construction

The choice of material for your distillation equipment depends on the chemicals involved and the desired purity of the final products. Common materials include:

• Glass: Suitable for most laboratory applications but may not be compatible with certain chemicals.
• Stainless Steel: Ideal for industrial settings due to its durability and resistance to corrosion.
• Borosilicate Glass: Combines the transparency of glass with higher chemical resistance.

Step 6: Heating Methods

There are different methods for heating your distillation setup:

• Direct Heat: Common in laboratory setups, where a heating mantle or Bunsen burner is used to heat the boiling flask directly.
• Steam Distillation: In this method, steam is passed through the boiling flask to heat the mixture. It's often used for heat-sensitive compounds.

Step 7: Efficiency and Throughput

Consider the efficiency and throughput of the distillation equipment. Some systems are designed for continuous operation, while others are batch-based. If you need to process large quantities of material, a continuous distillation system may be more suitable.

Suppose you manage a large-scale ethanol production facility. To meet the high demand for ethanol, you opt for a continuous distillation system that can process large quantities of fermented mash efficiently.

Step 8: Safety Features

Safety should always be a top priority when working with distillation equipment. 

Look for equipment with safety features such as:

• Pressure relief valves: Prevents over-pressurization.
• Temperature control: Ensures the system operates within safe temperature limits.
• Automatic shut-off: Halts the process in case of emergencies.

Ensure the safety of your workers and plant with distillation equipment featuring pressure relief valves, automatic temperature control, and emergency shut-off systems.

For more information, please visit Oil Distillation Plant.

Step 9: Maintenance and Support

While routine maintenance is essential to keep your distillation equipment running smoothly. Consider the availability of spare parts and technical support when choosing your equipment supplier. A reliable right distillation equipment supplier will offer maintenance services and readily available replacement parts.

While imagine you run a research laboratory with limited technical expertise. So you choose a distillation equipment supplier that offers maintenance contracts and readily available spare parts, ensuring minimal downtime and reliable support.

Step 10: Budget Considerations

Finally, your budget plays a significant role in your equipment selection. While it's important to find the best equipment for your needs, it's equally important to stay within your budget constraints. Compare prices, but don't compromise on quality and safety.

As a startup in the essential oil extraction business, you need to be mindful of your budget. So you select distillation equipment that strikes a balance between quality and affordability, ensuring that you stay within your financial constraints.

The Way Forward:

Solvent extraction is the most widely used method to extract oil from oil-bearing materials. While rice bran oil is generally obtained using exclusively the solvent extraction method, other oils and fats like castor oil, sunflower oil, groundnut oil, shea butter and cocoa butter are procured through a combination of mechanical pressing using oil expeller machines and solvent extraction using oil extractor machines.

Distillation is a critical part of the solvent extraction process, so it goes without saying that your solvent distillation plant is an integral part of your array of equipment. This blog article will help you make an informed purchase decision when it comes to a steam distillation plant, but before we get into the specifics of investing in a solvent distillation plant, let's take a look at the solvent extraction process as a whole and the role that distillation plays in it.

What is solvent extraction? What are the steps involved?
Along with mechanical extraction, solvent extraction is one of the most popular techniques of extracting oil from plant-based oil-bearing materials. Mechanical extraction results in comparatively high quality oils, like virgin coconut oil, and also involves a relatively low CAPEX investment. But when producing oil at scale, especially from oil-bearing materials which don't have a very high oil content, it is cheaper and more convenient to rely on solvent extraction. Often, a combination of the two methods is used to reap the benefits of both.

The name gives it away: solvent extraction makes use of a solvent, most commonly hexane, to extract oil from oilseeds. Modern processes allow you to achieve oil yields greater than 95%, recovering over 95% of the solvent as well. This makes the leftover meal suitable to be used as animal feed, while the recovered solvent is circulated back into the system for reuse. With high yield and minimal waste, the efficiency and sustainability of this process is indubitable.

Hexane is fairly toxic. So every once the oil has been extracted, every step prioritises the removal and recovery of this solvent for reasons of consumer and environmental safety, not to mention the economic benefits of repurposing the solvent. The desolventizers, and the evaporators and condensers which make up a solvent distillation plant all aid the solvent recovery process, with each piece of equipment incrementally increasing the purity of the meal and the oil that result from this process.

But even before hexane is added to the oilseed to begin the extraction process, the oilseed goes through a preparatory process which may involve cleaning, dehulling, cracking and/or flaking. This is done with the end of increasing the surface area of the oilseed which can come in contact with the solvent.

In the oil extractor machine, the prepared solids are brought into contact with the solvent, allowing the oil to dissolve in the solvent, forming an oil-solvent miscella. Now the solid and the miscella are the two products that emerge from this process, and both of them have to be rid of the solvent that they carry. The solid is transported to a desolventizer, where steam is used to remove hexane. The miscella, on the other hand, makes its way to the solvent distillation plant.

In a steam distillation plant, or a solvent distillation plant, hexane is recovered in multiple stages - ideally, three stages of vacuum as is done by Kumar's solvent distillation plants. This step makes use of an evaporator, heater, and vapour condensing unit. The miscella makes its way to the evaporator via an economizer, where part of the solvent is recovered by using the heat of vapours emerging from the desolventizer. Then come the evaporator, heater and condenser which make up the steam distillation plant and achieve an incremental concentration of miscella at a specific rate. The final stage involves the use of steam under a higher vacuum of 700 mmHg (which is why a solvent distillation plant is often also referred to as a steam distillation plant), permitting distillation at a lower temperature and minimal damage to the oil. This is the stage during which maximum solvent is recovered from the oil-solvent miscella. From here, the oil moves on to further refining or purification stages, while solvent traces from outgoing vapours are recovered in the next step.

Investing in a solvent distillation plant: Things to keep in mind
Now that you've had a look at the solvent extraction process and the crucial role that a good solvent distillation plant plays in procuring a high quality, pure oil with maximum solvent recovery, what's your next step? Choosing a solvent distillation plant for your own facility, of course. This handy guide will help you tick all the right boxes as you embark on your purchase journey:

• Distillation plant cost

No matter what machine you want to buy or what industrial process you're involved in, your CAPEX investment is an important factor to consider. This means considering distillation plant cost before purchasing one. Invest in a solvent distillation plant which fits your budget and is economical in the long run. This means that you should also take a long-term look at your operating costs, taking into account the cost of maintenance and potential repairs.

• Long service life and minimal repairs

This brings us to the next most important thing to consider: longevity of your equipment. In order to make sure that you get a long service life from your steam distillation plant, look for one with minimal repair and maintenance of wear and tear parts. Kumar's distillers, for instance, are constructed with a special steel alloy and the components are guaranteed to be durable as they are specially treated to ensure longevity. Even the evaporators' tubes are designed in a way which lowers deposition of sludge, minimising the need for frequent maintenance and cleaning. So even if you shell out a little bit more upfront, remember that in the long run, it will work out to be the more economical decision.

• Allied machinery and accessories

As we've seen, solvent distillation is not a process which is carried out in isolation. Though integral to the extraction process, distillation is only one of many steps that must take place. Accordingly, your solvent distillation plant is only one of a number of pieces of equipment you'll need. Seek out equipment partners who can provide you with compatible allied machinery and accessories like an oil press machine, oil extractor machine, desolventizer toaster, meal cooler, miscella hopper, hydroclone and spray distribution system.

• Quality

All said and done, procuring an oil of high quality should be your topmost priority. Kumar's distiller allows for lower heat retention and maximum heat transfer, thereby enhancing oil quality.

• Optimum solvent recovery

Keeping in mind constraints of distillation plant cost and type of oilseed, procuring the best quality oil is also dependent on recovering as much solvent as possible from the miscella (as well as from the meal or cake). Kumar's equipment is ideal for this; the stripper is designed for proper film formation and solvent removal; the dryer is equipped with a spraying system to remove solvent traces and dry the oil before discharge; and the condensers provide optimum solvent condensation at reduced vacuum.

• Sustainability - minimal effluent discharge

Sustainability is at the core of everything that we do at Kumar Metal Industries. In the oil extraction process, this means minimal effluent discharge. It means a highly efficient cyclone-centrifugal separator type fines separation system which reduces utility consumption. And it means preventing solvent loss using an efficient vapour absorption system.

Ultimately, a solvent extraction plant should ideally be run in a manner that is easy on the environment and easy on the pocket. Handling solvents safely, effectively and with maximum efficiency is crucial here.

Thankfully, Kumar's solvent distillation plant solutions have all these priorities incorporated into their design. Our innovative engineering and unparalleled manufacturing standards will support you as you optimise for efficiency and economy. We ensure a long service life and minimal repair and maintenance needs. We have had the honour of delivering over 600 successful projects to more than 500 satisfied customers around the world. We can help you deliver your next oil extraction or processing project successfully too.

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