Deep-Frying Fat Clarification
Potato chips, bread crumbed meat and fish snacks, nut specialties and other roasted products are now produced on an industrial scale worldwide – in Europe and further afield as well as in Asian markets. To satisfy the constantly increasing demand, the industry needs corresponding quantities of deep-frying oil, which at the same time must satisfy increasingly stringent quality requirements.
A particular problem in this connection is the lifetime of the oils. After a certain amount of use, the oil is so heavily contaminated that it has to be replaced with fresh oil. This is a significant cost factor, because not only does the new oil cost money – so does continuously disposing of the old oil. At the same time, strong competition is forcing tighter and tighter calculations.
GEA Westfalia Separator has found a solution to this problem with continuous deep-frying oil clarification in special separators. A cleaning system has been developed in which the oil is continuously fed through a separator in a bypass in a closed circuit. This bypass solution means that the quality of the oil and thus also the quality of the deep-fried products remains consistently high. GEA Westfalia Separator has developed separators for this purpose which are specifically designed for the high temperatures here which can reach 180 °C and more.
Clarifying deep-fat frying oil
For the industry, however, the new process means not only consistent quality, but also significant cost savings in purchasing and disposal. Lower quantities of deep-frying oil are required, so correspondingly less needs to be disposed of. Furthermore, the separator is very easily cleaned, unlike conventional filter systems.
Because of the high thermal load, however, even the cleaned oil ages at some point. When an oil change is necessary, the separator consequently proves it has another capability – cleaning up the oil before disposal. To do this, the used oil is not circulated back into the deep-fat fryer after separation, but diverted to a storage tank when a valve in the separator discharge line is switched. The separated oil can now be used as fuel for generating electricity or for producing steam in boilers. Oil cleaned beforehand in this way is also ideally suited for use in biodiesel processes.