Several varieties of sunflower oil seeds have been developed by standard plant breeding methods, mainly to vary the amounts of oleic acid and linoleic acid which, respectively, are the predominant monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats in sunflower oil. Sunflower oil is a rich source of vitamin E (tables).
How hexane is used in sunflower oil extraction?
Which is where solvent extraction comes to the rescue. Solvent extraction is the part of the sunflower oil making process in which almost every last drop of oil is extracted from the sunflower seeds. Hexane is the most widely used solvent for this. The process begins with the pouring of hexane over the leftover cake from expeller pressing.
How is sunflower oil made?
But naturally, when carried out at an industrial scale, the sunflower oil making process has more steps and more complexity involved. Within a factory setting, the process begins with preparatory steps and culminates in bleaching and deodorizing ¨C essentially, the refining process. So, how is sunflower oil extracted?
What are the steps in sunflower oil production?
When it comes to sunflower oil, the steps that are critical in the production of clear, high quality, and safe edible oil are degumming, alkali neutralisation, bleaching, dewaxing, deodorisation, and an optional winterization process ¨C each of these processes is explained in detail elsewhere on our blog and website. So there you have it.