Water is often considered a contaminant in nearly any food-grade oil, regardless of the oil type. A common method of moisture removal is via a centrifugal separation. This process is often acceptable, but may leave behind enough moisture to still contaminate the solution and lead to possible spoilage. When consistant problems are encountered, many companies look toward the purchase of additional centrifugal separators -- at a cost of 100's of thousands of dollars.

Unfortunately, there is a physical limit to how much moisture can be removed via centrifugal separation. Adding additional machines in series will improve performance somewhat, but with diminishing returns.

A better separation of water from oil can be acheived via the use of a vacuum-flash system at a great cost savings over additional separators. Dairy Engineering Company has built and installed over a dozen vacuum drying systems over the past few years. This technology cannot replace centrifugal separation, but can serve as a "polishing" system which will consistently reduce the final moisture level during normal operation and possibly make up for occasional inefficiencies in the centrifuge.

We will be happy to answer any questions. Please direct e-mail to applications@dairyeng.com.

March 19, 1997