PES solutions in the olive oil industry
We provide efficient separation systems for waste treatment in olive oil mills!
We offer reliable and efficient solutions for edible oil process industries, from specialised support in a specific process area to the design of a new process line from scratch. Most importantly, the solutions we offer are not simply the installation of a piece of equipment. Our engineering team will first visit your site, take into consideration all special requirements of the project and process, and specialise the proposal according to your specific product needs or business expectations. For olive oil production we present the following proven solutions:
- Filtration of black water (katsigaros) from three-phase mills
- De-watering of olive pomace from two-phase decanter mills
- Increased olive oil yield with industrial enzymes
Details revealed
During olive oil production, there is inevitably a waste water (katsigaros) produced which has a black colour and contains a high level of suspended solids. When using an Amkco separator we remove the suspended solids and, in addition, fresh olive paste can be recovered and directed to pomace — giving a typical payback period of less than 2 years.
Direct benefits:
- Removal of suspended solids makes effluent handling much easier
- In evaporation ponds there is no fouling or precipitation
- 7% to 15% of olive paste (8–10% oil content) can be directed to pomace
- Short investment payback period
- Water can be recycled into the decanter feed
- Water reaches 0.1% oil content — suitable for olive tree irrigation
Black water filtration
The problem in two-phase olive oil mills arises from the fact that the pomace produced has a much higher moisture content than that from three-phase mills, resulting in a very low market value. With continuous de-watering of two-phase pomace using Amkco separators we achieve:
Direct benefits:
- No suspended solids in the liquid phase (screens < 100 μm)
- Kernel fraction also recovered on the top deck in the same machine
- Pomace mass reduction by 15–25% (water and kernel fractions)
- Pomace quality reaches the equivalent of three-phase pomace
- Installed power < 2 kW — very low energy consumption
- De-watering capacity easily adjustable