Cottonseed oil plant, cottonseed oil mill machinery

Cottonseed oil is a widely used cooking oil all over the world, and the cotton planting industry produces it as a by-product. The oil content of cottonseed kernel after shelling is nearly 40%, and it contains a lot of essential fatty acids. The most appropriate consumption method is to mix it with animal fat. Cottonseed oil has a high linoleic acid content, which can effectively inhibit the rise of cholesterol in the blood and keep the human body healthy. The cotton oil absorption rate of the human body is 98%.

Flow chart of cottonseed oil processing:

Cottonseed -> cleaning -> shelling -> separating -> flaking -> cooking -> prepressing -> extracting -> crude oil -> refining -> finished oil

To process cottonseed oil, the first step is to remove cotton lint to make the residual lint of cottonseed less than 4.5%. Then, the cottonseed should be shelled with processing standards of 99% or higher. After that, separate the shells and kernels of cottonseed (cottonseed kernel content in the shells should be 0.5% or less). The standard of flake thickness of cottonseed after flaking is 0.3-0.5 mm. Then, cook the cottonseeds to make its moisture between 4-6% with the temperature of 110-115 degrees Celsius.

Crude cottonseed oil can be produced in the prepressing process. There is residual oil contained in raw materials after prepressing, thus extracting process is made to keep the residual oil in meals less than 1%. The crude oil conveyed from prepress plant and extracting plant contains many impurities, such as oil-soluble impurities like free fatty acids, phospholipid, colloid, wax, pigment, and other solid impurities like meal crumbs and mud.

Besides, cottonseed kernel contains 0.63% ~ 2.63% of gossypol, it must be refined to obtain standard cottonseed oil.

Miscella refining processing of cottonseed oil

Miscella refining processing of cottonseed oil is a new technology popularized and applied at home and abroad now. It is the refining process of miscella in the extracting plant.

The features of miscella refining processing are that alkali refining of miscella is made before solvent evaporation, thus the viscosity of miscella is lower. Miscella has a higher proportion difference with saponin, which can effectively reduce the acid value, remove the gossypol and saponin by single alkali refining and centrifugal separation without washing. As a result, it can reduce the investment of cottonseed oil plant, improve the oil recovery rate and free from washing wastewater treatment problems; gossypol and other heat-sensitive materials in miscella can be removed effectively before solvent evaporation, which avoids the coking in the machine after heating, thus conducive to the maintenance of cottonseed oil plant, prolong the service life of equipment and also reduce the consumption of energy. Meanwhile, pigment ingredients like gossypol in miscella can be effectively removed before solvent evaporation that avoids the curing of pigment in high temperature.

Thus, the pigment is easy to be removed in refining and bleaching process. Clay consumption is also reduced and the color of cottonseed oil would be better.

What is gossypol?

Gossypol is a toxic substance found in various parts of the cotton plant, including cottonseed, cotton shell, cottonseed cake, and cottonseed meal. During the process of oil extraction, most of the gossypol binds with protein and amino acids to form bound gossypol due to the thermal effect of cooking and squeezing. This bound form of gossypol cannot be absorbed by animals in the gut, resulting in low toxicity. However, the free form of gossypol found in cake and oil has a higher toxicity to animals, especially single-stomach animals. Overconsumption or prolonged intake of gossypol can lead to slow growth, reduced reproductive performance, and production performance.

Gossypol is a naturally occurring toxin that protects the cottonseed oil plant from insect damage. In some cases, unrefined cottonseed oil is used as a pesticide. However, in the production of edible cottonseed oil, the gossypol must be removed through a refining process.

At our company, we offer complete cottonseed oil plant and premium cottonseed oil mill for processing various types of oil seeds. Our business scope covers numerous countries around the world. We have accumulated a lot of experience in production and sales of cottonseed oil mill plant and gained high reputation in this industry all over the world. Contact us now to know more about our cottonseed oil mill.