Olive Oil Extraction

Decanter Centrifuge Systems Provide Your Facility with Industry-Leading Extraction and Improved Quality at Substantially Lower Cost

The olive oil industry has grown enormously across the previous decade and looks to expand similarly for the next, with annual growth rates projected to be 5-15% per year! Archer Separation works with olive oil mills and olive oil manufacturers and partners with equipment manufacturers to provide the best solution for your olive oil extraction needs; we at Archer recommend the application of a decanter centrifuge. As food service, retail and consumer demand for olive oil increases, it's imperative that olive oil manufacturers the maximize cost and efficiency of equipment to best take advantage of that demand.

See why a decanter centrifuge is the best choice for maximising your olive oil mill's yield.

Olive oil is the world's original vegetable oil, an integral part of foods applications for over eight thousand years. Though originally a cooking aid, even thousands of years ago olive oil was seeing alternative applications in ancient Europe, such as cosmetics, ointments, soap and even fueling lamps. Today, olive oil is manufactured at a far greater rate (and scale) than antiquity, but it has expanded its uses while maintaining its position as the healthiest cooking oil. But, with demand for this storied oil growing every year, what can manufacturers do to maximize their yield of oil of their olives?

While the ancient methods of olive oil milling—matting, squeezing, and collecting in vats—was remarkable for its day, the olive oil yield was comparatively low. Today, the vast majority of olive oil mills use decanter centrifuges to separate the solid and liquid components of their larger quantities of olives. Decanter centrifuges achieve optimal oil yield, typically above 85% on the first extraction; 50% of the remainder can be reclaimed in the second extraction (a total of over 95% extraction), and both percentages can be increased with tweaks to operation temperatures and other mechanical parameter adjustments (a service which we at Archer Separation provide, including remotely).

Regardless of what methods are used for extraction of oil, a decanter centrifuge is still essential for removal of water, debris, and other solids from the resultant oil—why add additional types of equipment (with associated cost, labour, expertise and expenses) when one type of machine can handle all your olive oil milling needs?

What Else Does a Decanter Centrifuge Do for Your Olive Oil Mill's Processing?

The economical and efficiency benefits of a decanter centrifuge are considerable:

Centrifuges Provide the Highest Yield

Decanter centrifuge achieve optimal olive oil extraction. Many decanter centrifuges are “three-phase,” meaning their process separates in three ways; for example, water, an oil and a solid. Archer Separation's partners at HAUS provide the following diagram:

The results of olive oil centrifugation via decanter centrifuge are thus highly separated and easily-worked: virgin olive oil, separated water, and the remaining solids (“pomace”). Three-phase decanter centrifuges extract the most oil of any olive oil milling method, leaving only 3-5% of oil in the pomace.

Boast the Lowest Labour Costs

Compared to alternatives, extracting olive oil with a decanter centrifuge offers massively reduced labour costs. While the ancient ‘pressure’ methods like screw pressing are appealing for their low-seeming initial costs, they require constant labour to operate. Furthermore, they can only press while being operated (as no part is truly automated) and have small load capacities. This makes decanter centrifuges the best means for olive oil milling operations, as their labour costs scale affordably to meet the enormous demand for oil—alternatives on labour cost simply spiral out of affordability too quickly.

Economical

When properly tuned and adjusted for your facility's olive oil milling properties (a service we at Archer Separation are experienced in providing), a decanter centrifuge offers the most economical long-term solution for your olive oil extraction needs. Able to work continuously with minimal labour on any kind of olive input, the decanter centrifuge provides the most economical volume and quality for any scale under any metric, making it your best investment in olive oil production.

Fully Automated

Decanter centrifuges are fully-automated equipment, requiring no downtime once they have a continuous flow of olives into the centrifuge itself (the initial flow can begin in less than an hour, as well). When it comes to high-scale production of any kind it's a marathon, not a race—and especially when it comes to continuous production of an in-demand item like olive oil. A decanter centrifuge takes the guesswork out of start, stop, and workflow; it works at full capacity as continuously as you require, and we at Archer Separation are here to help make the necessary adjustments to optimize your facility's unique needs.

Hygienic

Our partners' decanter centrifuges experience a constant cycling of water through the drum, which keeps the equipment cleaned throughout the entire automated process; this effect is compounded if the water is warmed or the device is a self-cleaning decanter centrifuge, which can dislodge its own solids while at operating speed. Comparatively, olive oil presses require many hygiene protocols to operate safely, while olive oil percolators compensate a clean environment with inefficiently low operating speeds. In either case, a decanter centrifuge is considerably cleaner and lower-maintenance than its contemporaries in the olive oil milling process.

Improved Quality

Two- and three-phase decanter centrifuges produce the best quality, purest olive oil. Alternative olive oil milling processes score lower on taste, mouthfeel, colour, and clarity; for their product to have high flavour phenols and still score well, it requires additional centrifugation. Application of a decanter centrifuge in your olive oil milling process saves you the additional post-processing while also providing the best quality olive oil in your production from the start.

Processing Flexibility

Olive oil separation via decanter centrifuge offers some unique decisions to the olive oil manufacturer. In addition to three-phase decanter centrifugation, two-phase decanters, which have one fewer stage of centrifugation, are used in over 90% of olive oil processing operations. This is because fewer phases require less additional water being incorporated into the olive oil extraction system– new two-phase decanters only consume 5-10 liters of water per 100 kilograms of olive paste! As a result, the equipment also tends to be smaller, allowing it to be used in smaller operations or as part of larger system in smaller environment. HAUS provides the example diagram below.

As all water leaving the system becomes olive oil mill wastewater (“OMW”), this reduced water intake in the decanter centrifuge means less additional machinery (or organizational overhead) in dealing with the affluent olive oil mill wastewater. One may wonder where the existing water goes in such a system; the tradeoff is two-phase pomace being wetter than three-phase centrifuge output. Wet pomace requires different machinery and processes to transport, dry, or dispose. Compromises, like “two-and-a-half” phase centrifugation, can be reached. And we at Archer Separation have a history of expertise in ensuring such needs be met.

Olive oil remains one of the world's most time-tested products, and it shows all signs of increasing in demand; peak yield is crucial to meeting that industry demand. Olive oil extraction and milling with the application of a decanter centrifuge is the demonstrably best option for highest yields, lowest costs, and simplest hygiene and maintenance. Long the industry-leading technology in olive oil extraction, decanter centrifuges have expanded to include two-phase or three-phase configurations for your olive oil mill's processing preferences. They also come in an increasing variety of sizes to best suit your facility's spatial requirements! Offering unparallelled flexibility and options for the efficiency they provide, there's never been a better time to take advantage of the cost and efficiency savings of a decanter centrifuge.

We understand your olive oil processing needs, and will meet those needs with the best technology available!

Contact Us Today with all your Filtration or Separation Challenges. Call 604.484.4516 or Contact Us through our Online Form.