The castor oil plant is a pure viscous liquid that is amber in color. The oil is extracted from the seeds of a plant that is known as Ricinus Communis. It is also referred to as ricinus oil. Castor occurs naturally as glycerides, it is among the few compounds that are almost pure elements because the amount of fatty acid is negligible- about 9/10 ricinoleic.A crude castor oil has a pale straw color; however, it turns slightly yellowish or colorless after bleaching and refining. Ricinus Communis grows naturally in different geographical areas and usually activate under various climatic and physical regimes.
Castor Beans Oil Processing Plant
Studies show that castor beans have approximately between 30 and 35 percent oil which can be extracted through a number of industrial processes or through processes such as solvent extraction. Continuous screw press or hydrate presses.
The castor seed oil manufacturing line adopts mechanical oil pressing technology. It connects a series of processing equipment to realize continuous oil extraction which can largely saving labor cost in production. The castor oil seeds undergoes many processes to produce castor oil. Following is the castor oil extraction process including dehulling, cleaning, conditioning, pressing, filtration and refining.
Step 1: Castor Seed Dehulling
Castor seed contains about 30%–35% oil. The extraction process begins with the removal of the hull from the castor oil seeds. This can be accomplished with the help of a castor seed dehuller.
Step 2: Castor Seed Cleaning
After removing the hull from the seed, the seeds are cleaned in seed cleaner, the equipment has screens of various sizes that can remove inorganic impurities.
Step 3: Castor Seed Drying
In this process, the cleaned seeds are heated in a steam-jacketed cooker/kettle to remove moisture, and this hardening process will help in extraction. The cooked seeds are then dried before the extraction process begins.
Step 4: Castor Seed Pressing
A screw oil press machine is used to crush the castor oil-seeds to facilitate removal of the oil. The first phase of this extraction is called pre-pressing. After pressing oil is collected and filtered and the filtered material is combined back with new, fresh seeds for repeat extraction. In this way, the bulk filtered material keeps getting collected and runs through several extraction cycles combining with new bulk material as the process gets repeated. This material is finally ejected from the press and is known as castor cake.
Step 5: Castor Seed Filtration
After pressing, crude castor oil still remain impurities in the extracted oil. To aid in the removal of the remaining impurities, filtration systems are usually employed. The filtration systems are able to remove large and small size particulates, and even water from the oil. The filtration system equipment normally used for this task is the oil filter press.