Efficient, reliable, with minimized water consumption

Olive oil recovery

Continuous or batch, 2-phase or 3-phase systems, complete process lines or single equipment, GEA supports all production methods for the extraction of olive oil.

Olive oil recovery
2-phase system for olive oil extraction

Olive oil recovery in a continuous 2-phase system. This process method is primarily used in countries like Spain, Portugal but also USA and Australia.

Key process steps for olive oil production

Before milling the olives have to be weighed, washed and cleaned from stems, leaves and other impurities. GEA can supply all of these components making sure that the olives are weighed fast and accurately and cleaned and washed thoroughly to obtain premium olive oils.

The olives are crushed in hammer mills. In continuous processes, the mills are often installed directly underneath the silos, the olive pulp is then transported to the malaxers by pumps. For a batch process, the mills can be attached directly to the malaxers.

In malaxers the pulp is stirred for a specific period of time at a certain temperature. This increases the proportion of free oil and forms bigger oil droplets and thus directly affects the yield. So it is important to use malaxers that let you control temperature and duration of stirring very precisely. GEA offers different kinds of malaxers, for continuous or batch processes, with horizontal or vertical agitation.

Decanter centrifuges are the heart of every modern olive oil installation. Depending on the required capacity, models for processing between 20 and 650 tons of olives per day are available, both in 2-phase and 3-phase design. GEA also offers so-called Combi-Decanters that can cover both, the 2-phase as well as the 3-phase process. This is basically two machines in one.

Polishing separators from GEA ensure the required premium quality by removing all residue while handling the product with extreme care. Gentle product treatment in combination with an optimum timing to discharge the solids minimize product loss.

GEA also supplies supplementary accessories, from vibrating strainers, centrifuge platforms, pumps and conveyors through to buffer and pure oil tanks for the appropriate collection and storage of olive oil.

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