Packing Deacidification Tower

Various crude oils (such as soybean oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil, etc.) before refining all contain a certain amount of free fatty acids (FFA). The process of removing free fatty acids from oils is called deacidification, which is one of the critical steps in oil refining. Currently, commonly used deacidification methods in industry include alkali refining, steam distillation (i.e., physical refining), solvent extraction, and esterification, among which alkali refining and steam distillation are the most widely applied.

The Packing Deacidification Tower is a specialized equipment based on the physical refining principle, designed specifically for the efficient removal of free fatty acids from oils. It is one of the core pieces of equipment in modern continuous oil refining production lines. Through optimized internal structure and advanced gas-liquid mass transfer technology, this equipment achieves deep deacidification with low energy consumption, ensuring stable quality of finished oil and residual free fatty acids below 0.05%.

Core Technologies and Performance Advantages of Packing Deacidification Tower

• High-Efficiency Mass Transfer Packing:Utilizes 316L stainless steel corrugated packing with a large specific surface area and excellent wetting performance, significantly improving vapor-liquid contact efficiency and enhancing the stripping removal of free fatty acids.
• Uniform Liquid Distribution System:Precision-designed liquid distributor disc ensures uniform distribution of the oil phase across the tower cross-section, preventing channeling and bypass flow, resulting in stable deacidification performance.
• High-Pressure Steam Stripping:Equipped with a high-efficiency steam injection system, it uses high-temperature and high-pressure steam for direct stripping, greatly reducing residual free fatty acids.
• Food-Grade Materials:The tower body and internal components are made of 304/316L food-grade stainless steel, corrosion-resistant, easy to clean, and fully compliant with international food safety standards.
• Energy-Saving and Environmentally Friendly Design:Low-pressure drop structure reduces system energy consumption; steam consumption is reduced by more than 20% compared to traditional equipment.
• Customizable Processing Capacity:Single-unit processing capacity covers 5–500 TPD, flexibly designed according to customer production requirements.

Application of Packing Deacidification Tower

1.  Edible oil refining (soybean oil, palm oil, sunflower oil, rice bran oil, etc.)
2. Chemical, pharmaceutical, and food industries

Installation and Commissioning Precautions of Packing Deacidification Tower

• The installation verticality tolerance of the deacidification tower is 1‰ of the tower height, and shall not exceed 30mm.
• The installation slope of vacuum pipelines, oil inlet and outlet pipes, etc., is 0.001 to prevent the backflow of condensable substances into the deodorization pot, which would affect deodorization efficiency.
• Hydrostatic test and water tightness test must be carried out after installation.
• Hydrostatic test and water tightness test must be carried out after disassembly, repair, and reassembly.

Operation Precautions:

• The degassed oil is heated by oil-oil heat exchange and thermal oil to approximately 250–260°C before entering the packing section. When the oil temperature in the deacidification and deodorization system reaches the specified value, turn on the direct steam for deacidification. The opening of the direct steam valve should be adjusted according to specific conditions.
• The deacidified oil is heated by a thermal oil heater to approximately 250°C before entering the top of the deodorization tower.