Edible oil refinery expansion succeeds despite pandemic challenges
In June 2019, Ukranian edible oil refining company Privat Enterprises OLIYAR selected GEA as their partner for a project to extend and optimize their existing production of sunflower and rapeseed oil.
Their ambitious goals for this expansion required:
• improving oil quality
• increasing machine availability and process productivity
• reducing their fix costs
• reducing their initial investment by leveraging GEA’s process expertise
The standard solution for a process line that handles water and special degumming is a two-stage line. However, given Oliyar’s specifications for improving oil quality, this created opportunities for cost saving potential in the form of a one stage process solution.
Edible oil refining company Privat Enterprises OLIYAR is one of the leading producers of vegetable oil in the Ukraine.
GEA did not offer a simple standard solution but have designed the new refining process exactly to our needs and specifications with the result that we can now handle both, water degumming and special degumming in one stage.”-Taras Tsybuh, Production Manager, Oliyar
-Taras Tsybuh, Production Manager, Oliyar
GEA RSI Separator features boost product quality and productivity
Processing edible oil is tricky because as a natural product it may have varying compositions. In particular, the composition of the undesirable components varies and if the separator cannot adapt to these variations, the separation result, and consequently oil quality and yield, decrease.
GEA RSI Separators come with a feature that allows customers to adjust their separator settings during processing to ensure the oil meets their specific quality specifications. It is exactly this finetuner feature in GEA’s refining separators that has allowed Oliyar to adapt to the varying compositions in such a flexible way that yields are maximized and oil quality is always according to specs.
GEA RSI Separators also come with an integrated direct drive, a drive system flanged directly to the spindle transmitting power without any support systems such as gears or belts. This design results in energy savings as well as less maintenance stress and down time.
Another key feature increasing performance is the fact that the opening and closing mechanism of bowls on GEA separators is purely hydraulic. While running, the bowl opens periodically to discharge the solids that have collected inside. For this, a piston is lowered for a spilt second during operation, and the collected solids shoot out while the bowl rotates at full speed. Modern separators rely on fully hydraulic operation of moving the piston instead of mechanical parts like for example springs. Springs can wear out over time making for unprecise timings of piston operation which results in product losses and ultimately lower yields. On top, the wear can lead to higher service efforts with higher downtime of your centrifuge.
Lastly, GEA’s hydrohermetic feed system features a simple and reliable machine design, increasing machine availability and overall process productivity, particularly when compared to systems that require additional mechanical seals. In contrast, GEA’s hydrohermetic feed system uses the product itself to seal the processing area and therefore requires fewer wear parts.
The GEA RSI 170 Separator, specifically designed for the edible oil refinery industry. Features include finetuner, integrated direct drive, hydrohermetic feed and hydraulically operated piston. Individually small features, which collectively add up to high process productivity and machine availability.
Quality and perseverance: exceeding expectations despite a global pandemic
While Oliyar had many good reasons for choosing GEA as their partner during the procurement phase, the execution of the project and the performance of the machines was paramount.
Between signing in 2019 and commissioning in July of last year, much had changed. Most notably, almost all of Europe was in lockdown due to the spread of the coronavirus. This made it impossible for GEA process experts in Germany to travel to the Ukraine. The Ukrainian Service team is perfectly set up and skilled to do all the necessary service and maintenance work for centrifuges and have a lot of experience when it comes to commissioning. But Oliyar’s new process line is not a simple standard solution, so the support from the refining experts from Germany was required. In order to maintain the timings, the German team organized an intensive training schedule for GEA colleagues in the Ukraine via video conferencing. The local GEA team was guided through the entire commissioning process, step-by-step so they could carry out the same process at the customer site.
GEA digital tools, such as Remote Access for installation and commissioning also proved invaluable during the project. Via M-Guard, a secure internet connection, process and application experts from Germany could remotely access the process line control system at Oliyar. This meant that GEA could support with testing, running and optimizing Oliyar’s centrifuge systems without being onsite. Via this same technology, which gives GEA access to the customer’s machines, customers can also rely on fast back-up for any trouble shooting, drawing on our process and separation know-how. During commissioning, GEA process and automation experts from Germany “attended” all test runs virtually, interacting and engaging in the process as if they were on-site, when in fact they were a few thousand kilometers away.
The results have exceeded expectations with both throughput capacity and separation results achieving better results than promised in the original KPIs.”-Taras Tsybuh, Production Manager, Oliyar
-Taras Tsybuh, Production Manager, Oliyar
Oliyar produces sunflower oil under the brands “Majola”, “Sonyashna”, “Rodynna” and “Oliyar”.
