A plethora of health benefits has placed Sunflower oil on millions of tables as one of the most favored cooking medium in India and abroad and across the world.
The low content of saturated fats and high content of Vitamin E makes its non-volatile nature the choicest cooking medium for frying. It enjoys vast popularity in the cosmetic industry for being the base for manufacturing numerous cosmetic formulations. Scientific research has placed Sunflower oil as a frontline agent for preventing cancer. It also lowers the cholesterol levels, improves coronary health, reduces inflammation, and boosts energy. It is a potent weapon in mankind’s fight against skin injuries, arthritis, poorly healing wounds, hair growth and much more.
Process of Sunflower Oil Refining
After being extracted from sunflower seeds, crude sunflower oil is obtained post – multi-stage refining process that also helps attain the most favored qualities after removal of unwanted substances.
The following describes the multi-stage sunflower oil refining process:
Neutralization
The crude oil is neutralized as a first process, that primarily involves treatment of crude oil with alkali . Soap separation follows in order to remove soap from oil. Hot water is subsequently employed to wash the soap separated oil to remove the soap traces from oil followed by drying process to evaporate the moisture of oil.
The steps involved are –
- Conditioning
- Neutralization
- Washing
- Drying
Continuous Bleaching
In Bleaching process trace metals, dirt, color pigments, phospholipids, polycyclic aromatic compounds and numerous other impurities are eliminated from the Neutralized oil.
The multi-step process involves :
- Primary heating
- Acid and bleaching clay mixing
- Secondary heating
- Bleaching
- Filtration
Winterization
Waxes and saturated tri glycerides, which are fairly visible at low temperatures are removed at this stage.
Deodorization
Deodorization is a vacuum striping process in which given amount of steam is passed for a given period of time through hot oil @ a low pressure.
This process involves:
- De-aeration
- Pre-heating
- Striping
- Cooling