The Food Protein Research and Development Center has a complete pilot plant processing line for oilseeds and oilseed products, from handling, cleaning and preparation of the seed to manufacture of finished products such as RBD oils, margarines, shortenings, mayonnaise and salad dressing. The Fats & Oils program also conducts frying projects in order to determine the stability and performance of various vegetable oils currently available in the market. We are fully equipped to conduct such projects. Some of our current research on similar subjects can be found in the frytest.com website.
LABORATORY FACILITIES
The fats and oils laboratory is located on the main Texas A&M University campus and is fully equipped to conduct most basic and advanced oil analysis.
Our instruments include a full range of traditional and advanced laboratory equipment:
- Gas and high-pressure liquid chromatography
- Praxis NMR solid fat content analyzer
- Mettler melting point apparatus
- Refractive index analyzers
- Color analyzer
- Omnion oxidative stability instrument
- ISCO supercritical oil content analyzer
- Atomic absorption
- Spectrophotometers
- Supercritical oil analyzer
PILOT PLANT FACILITIES
The RBD oil processing line with a processing capacity of 200-2000 lbs/day includes equipment such as:
- 2 degumming and refining centrifuges
- Degumming and refining reactors and mixers
- 2 Bowl centrifuges
- 1-basket centrifuge
- 3 Plate presses
- 1 Leaf filter
- 1 Sparkler filter
- 2 Vacuum bleaching reactors
- 2 Hydrogenating reactors
- 3 Batch deodorizers of various scales
Advanced Fats and Oils Processing equipment include:
- 1- 200 gal glass lined reactor
- 1 25-gal stainless steel reactor
- 2"-Short path molecular distillation unit
- Chilling and crystallization system with a jacketed sparklers filter
Fats and Oils Products equipment include:
- 60 kg/hr Perfector for margarine and shortening manufacture
- Homogenizer for salad and mayonaise manufacture.
