Relationships among the variables involved in the physical refining of olive oil using nitrogen as stripping gas

The use of nitrogen as stripping gas has been proposed as an interesting alternative to steam in physical refining and deodorization. A 23 experiment has been carried out with olive oil in a 200 kg discontinuous deodorizer in order to study the relationships among the independent variables involved in the physical refining process ‐ nitrogen flow, temperature and oil load. The results have shown that at about 245°C and with a nitrogen stripping gas flow of 1500 l/kg.h it is possible to get refined oil with less than 0,4% of free fatty acids and quality indices adjusted to the ECC standards. Using these conditions the acidity is practically independent of the oil load within the limits of the experiment (125–175 kg of oil load).