21 replies to this topic

[SaRaRa]

Hello fellow scientists!

I am studing Food Science in Thessaloniki in Greece and I have a tough project in my univercity. I need to design a factory that produces margarine (low in trans fatty acids) from crude olive pomace oil (3% acidity) and skimmed milk (which has to be pausterized). This means LOADS of work because everything must be taken under serious consideration. All technologies should be analyzed and the "best" one shall be chosen for detailed analysis.

So...
I thought of first partially hydrogenating the crude olive pomace oil which has the triacylglycerol profile of 100% triolein so the margarine will start to become more solid (...right? wait... what about crystallization in a votator?) but this will generate unfortunately some trans fatty acids. For this reason I thought of using enzymatic interesterification in order to adjust the distribution of fatty acids in the triacylglycerols with lipase 1,3 and finally adjust the melting profile of the oil/partially-solid-fat. I dont want to use chemical interesterification because it will reform the FA molecules in the triacyglycerols in a random way so I wont know what the final melting profile will be (at least with enzymatic interesterification I will have SOME idea) and also because it has been shown that directed distribution of FA in the triacylglycerol gives the most stable SFC (around 43%) for a bigger temperature range than it does with random (and even natural) distribution of FA in the triacylglycerol. Also I dont want to use chemicals and with enzymatic interesterification I wont have waste (so this will save my ass from looking out for more information about waste treastment). Aaaand... its also more economic this way.

So, since all of these sound good in my head but they are all in theory... I want to know if this is possible to be done with an oil full in TRIOLEIN.

Here is the basic "flow diagram" I made... do you think it works?

Crude olive pomace oil treatment:
1. Storage of crude olive pomace oil
2. Ultrafiltration
3. Filtration
4. Bleaching
5. Filtration
6. Deodorization
7. Hydrogenation
8. Filtration
9. Enzymic interesterification
10. Preparation of the oil phase

Skimmed milk treatment:
1. Storage of skimmed milk
2. (filtration is needed here?)
3. Pausterization HTST
4. Slight fermentation with S. lactis
5. Preparation of the water phase (milk will displace water in this study)

Margarine production:
1. Emulsification of the 2 phases
2. Pro-crystallization in votator unit 1
3. Crystallization / tempering in votator unit 2
4. Packaging
5. Storage

Maaaan... I am studing literally 24/7 because this class is so tough... and in the final examination the teachers can ask me really anything they want... and ofcourse I have to know EVERYTHING... So I am doing my best to find out more stuff about... everything...

I would also like some advices for making a HACCP for this damn thing... tis lifeeating AAARGGHHH! :P

Thank you in advance people!

[Simon]

Hi SaRaRa,

Your fantastically detailed post deserves some attention and input from the experts. Although I would love to help you I am not an expert on anything, least of all margarine. However, what I can do is BUMP your post to the top of the pile in the hope that your question gets the response it deserves.

Best of luck with your project.

Regards,
Simon

[SaRaRa]

Thank you Simon! :D

[Charles.C]

Dear Sarara,

Did you try searching this forum already ? For some reason I only got yr post using the direct search but (as I already knew) there are several more margarine related threads. I obtained links below from the deeper level search mode (there are others) -

http://www.ifsqn.com...?showtopic=4881

http://www.ifsqn.com...?showtopic=9810

You probably know all this already but the first thread contains a link to a major resource on margarine. Only problem I found previously was you had to be a "member" to get full access. Do you hv a budget ?

I fear you are already on a much higher margarine plane than most people here (including me).

Rgds / Charles.C

[SaRaRa]

Thank you very much Charls!

...but I 've already checked those sites...
Well I will work more on it (I have no choice anyway.. do I? :P) and as soon as I am done I will post here my project.
Umm.. there is a problem though...

a) It is a bit huge (I guess tis gonna be over 300 pages for sure) and...
b) It is in Greek :P

But ofcourse I will translate all the basic parts and try to summarize.

I will probably have it all done around February.
A little contribution to this great forum.


Thank you for your time people!

[Simon]

Thank you very much Charls!

...but I 've already checked those sites...
Well I will work more on it (I have no choice anyway.. do I? :P) and as soon as I am done I will post here my project.
Umm.. there is a problem though...

a) It is a bit huge (I guess tis gonna be over 300 pages for sure) and...
b) It is in Greek :P

But ofcourse I will translate all the basic parts and try to summarize.

I will probably have it all done around February.
A little contribution to this great forum.


Thank you for your time people!

We look forward to receiving updates as you progress through the project and it would be great also if you could post the finished text.

Best of luck SaRaRa.

Regards,
Simon

[SaRaRa]

Thank you Simon!

I would do this ofcourse! But... as I said there are some problems:

a) Its in Greek and...
b) it will be around 500 pages or something... (so far I wrote 170 pages... still going...).

But I will translate and try to summarize just the basics (temperatures, pressures, residense times etc).

[Simon]

Thank you Simon!

I would do this ofcourse! But... as I said there are some problems:

a) Its in Greek and...
b) it will be around 500 pages or something... (so far I wrote 170 pages... still going...).

But I will translate and try to summarize just the basics (temperatures, pressures, residense times etc).

A summary would be perfect SaRaRa.

Regards,
Simon

[SaRaRa]

Hello again!

My project is finished! My company is bankrupt!
This is due to the high operating cost and more specifically to the cost of Freon 22 that I am supposed to use for refrigeration. Another factor is the high price of Raney Nickel catalyst and also hexane solute. All of those prices I found after loooots of hours in front of the monitor googling myself out!

So I would like to ask if the following prices are corresponding to reality! The following prices I found in $USD and I converted them into euros. Are those prices real ?!?

Raney Nickel catalyst (€/kg)

635.54

www.vgdllc.com

Freon 22 (€/kg)

8.66

www.wiki.answers.com

Hydrogen (€/kg)

71.93

Doty, 2004

[Charles.C]

Dear Sarara,

Sorry about your woes. I admire your philosophical approach. Is this actually an acceptable conclusion or what ?

Quite willing to show my ignorance, what stage does the freon come in ?? Hv previously used "freon" / ammonia compressor systems and I think freon is generally accepted as expensive (especially when it leaks out without detection!). Also not very environmentally friendly these days I think ? (nor is ammonia really but any leaks are rapidly evident).

I shall be (happily) amazed if anyone here is using the other items

Rgds / Charles.C

[SaRaRa]

Well I am using a program that makes calculations automatically. The thing is that its me who has to put the correct values on all of the important parameters on the different procedures (temperature, pressure, residence time, cost of all the of the ingridients, materials, economic factors and so on). So after I put these number I just click on a button and it does all the calculations automatically (energy and material balances and analytical economic evaluation). What I made is actually a model of an industry that trys to simulate reality. Its a pretty cool program really!

The problem is that its not easy sometimes to get the "correct" prices of some equipment (especially for the price of machinery I am using a specific site: www.matche.com - might prove useful to someone here), of some ingredients and materials because most of my search is done by googling. I did find some prices but... are the correct ones? And I never have worked on a similar field (still a student - just worked for a semester in a portuguese industry in the quality control lab) so I can't even have the smallest idea or at least be suspicious about a price.

Unfortunately the companies that I called to learn some prices about the raw materials and other ingredients / materials that I want to use... well the people there were really unhelpful and I just managed to get prices from 3 companies. They literally "filed" me! They asked my name, my adress, my phone number etc and after lots of talking they finally gave me a price! I am not a reporter for God's sake! (I should be glad they answered me really!)

Aaaaanyway...
Yes I guess its the philosophical point of view that we all like nay? Cause I think that most of the times what needs to be done properly just stays in theory because its by far different from what is REALLY being done in practice. Thats just a rough assumption though...


To the point...
Well I think you spoke the truth Charles! What I found out about Freon is that its price is going to hit the stars and that it will be stopped being used very soon. I think most of the European countries use Ammonia and only USA and India are still a lot into Freon.
I read some stuff and amongst them I found this post:

http://groups.google...ec6023a9254fb90

In short, Ammonia is much cheaper (damn.. it doesnt say price! grrrr...) than Freon. Ammonia has better heat transfer properties than Freon. Freon can do the same job efficiently it just takes more of it.



I need to find a price for ammonia fast... I might be able to saveeee my industry! But I dont got much time... I ve got to print all those 244 pages in 1.. max 2 days!

I also found the following ones but can anyone tell me if they correspond to reality?

Raney Nickel catalyst (€/kg) 635.54 www.vgdllc.com
Freon 22 (€/kg) 8.66 [url="http://"http://www.wiki.answers.com%20Hydrogen""]www.wiki.answers.com
[/url] Hydrogen (€/kg) 71.93 (Doty, 2004)




Thank you in advance!

P.S. Tiring post nay? :P

[SaRaRa]

Yaaay! I am not bunkrupt! My company actually seems to be quite profitable!
Indeed Freon is damn expensive and ofcourse Ammonia is lifesaving! :D
The price of Nickel (635.54 euros/kg) never seemed realistic to me... and I guess its not since I found another more reliable source that gives it like 8.55 euros/kg!!!
I am ready to give my work to my teachers and if everything is alright then I 'll make a small summary of the process and the economical analysis sometime soon and post it / upload it here.

Cheers!

[SaRaRa]

Well here is a small sample of my project! I think it was one of the best projects that past semester and all my 3 professors liked it and I also got a very good mark. It was my last subject (among with my Thesis) and now I am officially a Food Scientist! Yay!!!

The whole project is quite huge (241 pages) therefore its really time consuming to translate it all. So I just translated the preface. Anyone who wishes for more details feel free to ask me. Keep in mind that some of the costs for the raw materials, utilities and equipment were found mainly online so its not quite sure how "realistic" this model is. But I believe that it is an interesting approach for someone who wishes to take a look into margarine production plants.
Thanks in advance for reading!

Cheers!


Study of the contstruction and viability of a food industry that produces margarine comprised of crude pomace oil and raw milk

Preface



The present study examines the construction of an industrial unit for the production of margarine (10 kg packages) comprised of raw milk (water phase – 20%) and crude pomace oil (fat phase - 80%). The unit is considered to process a feed rate of 3000 kg crude pomace oil per hour. There is a short description of the different technologies that are available for the refinement of the crude pomace oil and for the margarine production and the most suitable processes are selected and analyzed.

The refining technologies of crude pomace oil are many but they can be classified into two major categories: the chemical refining and the physical refining. In the present study physical refining is chosen but an emerging technology is also introduced, degumming by ultra-filtration, which, even though an expensive method, is quite promising due to the facts that: a) it produces less wastewater when compared to the other degumming methods, b) it saves huge amounts of energy, c) it avoids contact of chemicals with the oil and d) it reduces losses during degumming. The oil is then bleached and hydrogenated at 20% just before steam deodorization.

The technologies for margarine production don’t show many differences when compared and for this reason the classic technology for the production of block margarine is described. The water phase is raw milk which is pasteurized and then fermented slightly by Streptococcus lactis. Then follows the formation of the emulsion which is homogenized in a high pressure homogenizer pump and transferred it in the pre-crystallizing Votator (Unit A). Then the crystallization continues in a resting tube (Unit Q) and it is completed after the formation and packaging of the final product, in storage, a process called tempering.

In the last chapters there is an analytical description of the flow diagram and the processing equipment which was made with the help of the SuperPro Designer v7.5 software. There is also a techno-economical evaluation of the whole industry unit. The economic evaluation showed that the industrial unit is viable with an annual profit of 47.355.000 euros while the total investment cost is at 20.597.000 euros and the annual operating cost is 34.693.000 euros. The return on investment based on the initial investment is 44.68% and the payout time is calculated at 2,24 years. It must be noted that some parameters such as the construction and operation of a waste processing facility and the logistics are not taken into account in the economic evaluation.

[Simon]

Well done SaRaRa, you should be proud of your achievement. It has been interesting following your thesis, even though I have not had anything to input. I do still read the discussions; it's just that most of them these days are above my head, so I tend stick to the caretaking duties.

I hope the forums have been of some use to you and helped to develop and support your thinking. Now that you are a qualified genius I hope that you can stick around and share your knowledge with others. I wish you great success in your chosen career path. I'm sure there will be plenty of opportunities for a talented GUY like you. By the way what do you intend to do next?

Regards,
Simon

[SaRaRa]

Hahaha yes thanks for clearing this out (I am a GUY!) because lately there are rumours about a "link Queen" crawling the forum somewhere... :P

Thank you for your kind words! Yes the forum was, is and will be a great place to find information and discuss issues!

Well what I wanna do next is to get my own island and live in peace in my huge villa with swimming pool and stuff... living the Greek dream hahaha :P Naaah just kidding!

Well unfortunately I have to waste 1 year of my life serving the army, and actually doing nothing because... here in the army you spend your time creatively by sitting, sitting, eating junk food, sitting some more and also exchange some important words with low IQ people somewhere in the far end of the country in a random military camp. Fun.

After this my plan is to do a Master in Wageningen university in the Netherlands. I ll probably go for the specialization Product Functionality or European Masters Degree in Food Science. I am not sure yet. And after this I will probably go for a PhD. Lots of studying... :P

[poppysnoss]

Hello SaRaRa.

I must admit I thougth you were a fellow female!

Good luck with all your studies. I am almost 1/3rd of the way through my MSc in Food Science, Safety & Health from Heriot Watt University in Scotland. (Distance Learning) Just submitted 2 assignments on rapid detection & id of pathogens and am about to start another on maillard reaction which is due by the end of the month. Oh, the joys!

[Charles.C]

Dear Sarara,

Congratulations indeed

I did notice no mention of "quality" or "HACCP" in yr summary. Very production oriented text.

I was also interested in yr comment about excluding the costs of waste treatment, I guess this may be quite complex for a product like margerine.

Congrats again

Rgds / Charles.C

[SaRaRa]

Thanks poppysnoss! Good luck to you as well!!! :)
If you need any... "information"... about a specific topic just ask me. No I don't mean that I know everything, ofcourse not, but I have plenty of... "knowledge" that I can share concerning many technological (physical, chemical, microbiological) aspects.

Charles, yes you are right! No HACCP issues are mentioned and really I don't know why this wasnt a prerequisite issue in the whole study. I could have planned it I suppose, but I have to admit that there was literally no time for doing it... I could barely cope with the schedule and finish all of the main objectives. There were always deadlines during the whole semester... and the schedule was very tough! And for some weeks I had to work day and night... (...the other two people of my team didn't work as much... lets say I did 90% of the work...).

I guess that this class that I had (Study and Design of Food Industries), focuses mainly in the application of all of a food scientist's knowledge in the desing of a food industry. Ofcourse quality issues are of major importance but the main aspects of the class were based on gathering information from references for all the necessary technologies and processes, learning how to use SuperPro Designer 7.5 (software) and design there the whole flow chart and taking into consideration some basic economic indexes.

Oh yes.. the waste treatment was also excluded... no time for it... otherwise I would have done it... but the teachers (all three of them) desided that we wont be able to finish the project if we had to do this also. Better for us (the students! :P).

Anyway... its done! I am done with it! Nomore! Now I study books that I want because I like it and not because I have to!!! (yeh I am a masochist :P)

Edited by SaRaRa, 12 April 2009 - 02:02 AM.

[Hongyun]

Congrats! Finally, the big project is finished.

Thanks alot for sharing as I've definitely learned alot of the margarine technology.

Well unfortunately I have to waste 1 year of my life serving the army, and actually doing nothing because... here in the army you spend your time creatively by sitting, sitting, eating junk food, sitting some more and also exchange some important words with low IQ people somewhere in the far end of the country in a random military camp. Fun.

I can understand how you feel man. Total waste of time there. Government should just employ professional militants to do the job.

But nonetheless, it was a totally different kind of experience for me.

So, enjoy your one year of "holiday" before the start of a new semester!

Good Luck in your future studies!

[SaRaRa]

Hehehehe thanx Hongyun!!! Always a pleasure discussing stuff wit ya!

[Abdul Qudoos]

Hope you have cleared the examination and designed the best plant of margarine. Here are few links, hope it may help you and others, i found the best in designing and providing help with great efforts and support.

http://www.gs-as.com...oils.aspx?ID=67
http://www.gs-as.com...es.aspx?ID=1109
http://www.gs-as.com...ory.aspx?ID=462

[SaRaRa]

Thank you Abdul!

Fortunately I finished it on February and I finally graduated!
Well I don't think its the best plant ever but... it certainly was one of the best projects of all the teams on my semester (I was studing like hell!). This semester the subject is the "Production of distilled fatty acids and glycerol in solid form from animal fat". I am glad I didn't have this one! I hate distillation!!! (I just love alcohol ).