Vegetable oils and fats are mainly defined by their physical, chemical, electrophysical, and electromagnetic characteristics. Nowadays, sunflower oil dewaxing, affected by the electric or electromagnetic field, is considered to be very effective.
The electrophysical effect on organic substances and materials is considered to be a relatively new approach which was first introduced in the 1960s. The nature of electromagnetic fields has allowed for the invention of many machines, which operate according to electrophysical principles.
To improve the refining process, some factories are in the business of developing new types of equipment or applying new chemical agents that require considerable financial expenditures. But, the refining process may be improved by implementing non-traditional approaches based on electric and magnetic principles.
According to the basic principles of the magnetochemistry, the production processes may be enhanced due to the effects of the magnetic fields on the system.
A wide range of problems may be detected if to study a traditional dewaxing process more thoroughly. They are as follows:
(1) a long wax crystallization process;
(2) poor filtration;
(3) necessity of applying additional substances;
(4) difficulties while cleaning a partition of sediments;
(5) high energy consumption costs;
(6) inadequate purification rate; and
(7) a great amount of waste products.
It is therefore, the factories that have to seek new and promising ways to improve the production process. The use of electric and electromagnetic fields has become a breakthrough in the oil refining process. But, special conditions should be provided to create a greater polarization of wax particles as compared with other additives. A presence of the electromagnetic field is one of such conditions, as wax contains the components of essential oil group, that have polarity. The waxes are dissolved in oils and their polarity is weak at 40-45 ºC / 104-113 ºF. If to cool the vegetable oil, the energy state of wax-like substances will be changed, and the lipophilic characteristics will be reduced. At +15-+45ºC / 59-113ºF, wax compounds are usually in an intermediate phase, which increases their polarity.
Affected by various external factors, liquid crystals can easily change their structure since the molecular forces are quite small. It is therefore, the application of electromagnetic fields opens up new possibilities for fat-and-oil industry.
The Vortex layer system AVS-100 is designed to enhance the chemical and physical processes. From the outside, it is a cylinder with a mounted inductor that is the source of rotating magnetic field. This cylinder is made of non-magnetic material.
The sunflower oil processing time, as well as the magnetic field strength, depend on the qualitative characteristics of the original product, mainly, on the amount of wax-like substances in sunflower oil. The application of a vortex layer system, designed for sunflower oil dewaxing, allows for a reduction in the production process time and for an provement of the quality of sunflower oil processing.