Tea seed oil refining system

Abstract

The invention discloses a tea seed oil refining system which comprises a pretreatment module, a squeezing module, a refining module and an intelligent control module, the pretreatment module is sequentially connected with a magnetic separator, a husking machine, a classifying screen and a low-temperature drying machine, and tea seed impurity removal, accurate husking and uniform drying are achieved; the squeezing module adopts a screw squeezer to be matched with a cold and hot dual-mode heating mechanism, so that the oil yield and nutrition retention are both considered; the refining module integrates a tea liquid soaking tank, a high-vacuum hydration tank, a decolorization tank and a deodorization tank, tea polyphenol is supplemented through tea liquid, refining is completed in a low-temperature vacuum environment, and continuous production is guaranteed in cooperation with two-way filtering equipment; the intelligent control module collects parameters in real time through a sensor and automatically adjusts the operation state of each module. The system realizes the whole-process continuous production of tea seeds from pretreatment to finished oil, significantly reduces the loss of nutrient substances, improves the quality and production efficiency of tea oil, and is suitable for a large-scale tea oil processing scene.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to the field of edible oil processing equipment technology, specifically to a tea seed oil refining system, suitable for large-scale, high-quality oil refining of tea seeds. Background Technology

[0002] Camellia oil is a unique high-quality edible oil in my country, rich in nutrients such as unsaturated fatty acids, tea polyphenols, camelliaside, and squalene. The unsaturated fatty acid content can reach over 90%, and tea polyphenols, as the core active substance, possess antioxidant and anti-inflammatory health benefits, earning camellia oil the reputation of "longevity oil," resulting in strong demand in the high-end edible oil market. However, existing camellia seed oil refining systems suffer from numerous structural defects in practical industrial applications, making it difficult to balance camellia oil quality and production efficiency, becoming a core bottleneck restricting industry upgrading.

[0003] In the pre-processing stage, existing equipment mostly uses a single roller shelling machine combined with a common vibrating screen, with shelling efficiency generally below 85%. Furthermore, there is no precise grading process, resulting in tea seed kernels often containing 10-15% shell residue and metallic impurities after shelling. This not only reduces the subsequent oil yield by 3-5%, but also increases refining difficulty and nutrient loss due to the inclusion of coarse fiber and tannins from the shell residue in the crude oil. The drying process often uses high-temperature drying above 65℃, leading to a loss rate of over 20% of heat-sensitive tea polyphenols in the tea seed kernels. In the pressing stage, traditional systems use a single electric or steam heating mode, maintaining a heating temperature of 95-110℃. While this can increase the oil yield, it causes significant degradation of active ingredients such as tea polyphenols and squalene. Additionally, the high temperature easily produces a burnt flavor in the tea oil, affecting its flavor and quality. In the refining stage, mainstream intermittent production processes require segmented shutdowns for hydration, decolorization, and deodorization, resulting in a single batch production cycle of 8-12 hours and low production efficiency. Furthermore, hydration and degumming are often carried out at normal pressure and high temperature (75-85℃), further exacerbating the loss of tea polyphenols. While some improved systems attempt to supplement tea polyphenols by adding tea liquid, the lack of precise concentration control and uniform mixing mechanisms leads to poor integration between the tea liquid and crude oil, resulting in fluctuations in the finished product's tea polyphenol content exceeding 30% and poor product quality stability. In addition, most systems are only equipped with basic temperature and pressure monitoring instruments, requiring manual adjustment of parameters for each process. This not only increases labor costs but also makes it prone to fluctuations in product qualification rates due to operational errors, failing to meet the demands of large-scale, standardized production.

[0004] While some patents in the industry attempt to optimize single processes, such as the low-temperature pressing device for tea seeds disclosed in CN202310567890.1, this only addresses the nutrient retention issue in the pressing stage and does not involve the synergistic optimization of pretreatment and refining. Similarly, the continuous refining equipment for tea oil proposed in CN202320789123.4 lacks nutrient enhancement and intelligent control functions, failing to simultaneously achieve nutrient retention, continuous production, and quality uniformity. Therefore, developing a tea seed oil refining system that achieves synergistic optimization across the entire process, combining nutrient enhancement, continuous production, and intelligent control, has become an urgent need to overcome industry technological bottlenecks and increase the added value of tea oil. Summary of the Invention

[0005] This invention addresses the problems of high nutrient loss, poor production continuity, low automation, and unstable product quality in existing tea seed oil refining systems. It provides a tea seed oil refining system that enables continuous and intelligent processing of tea seeds from pretreatment to finished oil. While increasing the oil yield, it maximizes the retention of active nutrients in tea oil and ensures the uniformity of product quality.

[0006] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solution: a tea seed oil refining system, comprising a pretreatment module, a pressing module, a refining module, and an intelligent control module. Each module is connected in series with a conveying pipeline and a control valve to form a closed-loop continuous production chain, the specific structure of which is as follows: The pretreatment module (1) is used for impurity removal, shelling, grading and drying of tea seeds, and includes a magnetic separator (11), a shelling machine (12), a grading sieve (13) and a low temperature dryer (14). The magnetic separator (11) uses a magnetic field strength of 800-1200Gs, which can effectively adsorb metal impurities in tea seeds and avoid subsequent equipment wear and oil contamination; the shelling machine (12) adopts a roller pressing structure with a shelling efficiency of ≥95%. After shelling, the shell residue and tea seed kernels are separated by air separation. The shell residue is sent to the shell residue collection box (15) for recycling, and the tea seed kernels enter the grading screen (13); the grading screen (13) can adjust the screen hole diameter within the range of 2-5mm to screen out tea seed kernels with uniform particle size, remove broken residue and unshelled tea seeds, and improve the pressing uniformity; the low temperature dryer (14) adopts hot air circulation drying, with the temperature controlled at 40-60℃ and the drying time at 1-2h, reducing the moisture content of tea seed kernels to 8-10%, which ensures the pressing oil yield and avoids high temperature damage to nutrients.

[0007] The pressing module (2) includes a screw press (21), a heating jacket (22), and a residue recovery device (23). The screw press (21) adopts a variable diameter screw design, and the screw speed can be adjusted by a variable frequency motor (50-150r / min) to adapt to the pressing needs of tea seed kernels of different particle sizes. The heating jacket (22) is wrapped around the outside of the screw and integrates electric heating (3-5kW) and steam heating (0.3-0.5MPa) dual modes. The heating mode can be switched according to the state of the tea seed kernels. The pressing temperature is controlled at 60-90℃, taking into account both oil yield and nutrient retention. The crude oil produced by pressing is sent to the refining module (3) through the oil outlet, and the pressing residue is sent to the residue recovery device (23) through the residue discharge port. It can be used to extract by-products such as tea saponin and improve resource utilization.

[0008] The refining module (3) is used for the purification and nutritional enhancement of crude oil, including a tea infusion tank (31), a mixing tank (32), a high vacuum hydration tank (34), an oil-soil mixer (36), a decolorizing tank (37), a deodorizing tank (39), a dual-path blade filter (38), and a finished product storage tank (311). The tea infusion tank (31) is equipped with a stirring mechanism and a concentration detector. Tea leaves are infused in a certain proportion to extract tea polyphenol solution, and the concentration is controlled at 15-20%. The solution is then transported to the mixing tank (32) by a metering pump (312) at a volume ratio of crude oil to tea liquid of 10:1-15:1 to achieve tea polyphenol supplementation and nutritional enhancement. After the crude oil and tea liquid are thoroughly mixed in the mixing tank (32), the mixture is heated to 50-70°C by a plate heater (33) and sent to a high vacuum hydration tank (34) (vacuum degree ≥ -0.095MPa) for hydration and degumming to remove impurities such as phospholipids from the crude oil. The hydrated oil is then separated from water and impurities by a centrifuge (35) and then processed through an oil-soil separator. Activated clay (2-3% of the weight of the oil) is added to the mixer (36) and sent to the decolorizing tank (37) for decolorization at 80-100℃ and high vacuum to remove pigments and odors. After decolorization, the oil is filtered by a dual-path leaf filter (38). The dual-path leaf filters (38) are set in parallel and can work alternately and be cleaned online to ensure continuous production. The filtration accuracy reaches 5-10μm. The filtered oil is sent to the deodorizing tank (39) for deodorization at 180-220℃ and high vacuum for 1-2 hours to remove volatile odor substances. Finally, it is cooled to 30-40℃ by the cooler (310) and sent to the finished product temporary storage tank (311) for storage.

[0009] The intelligent control module (4) includes a PLC controller (41), multiple sensors (42), and actuators (43). The sensors (42) are respectively set at key positions of each module. The temperature sensor monitors the temperature of the heating jacket (22), low temperature dryer (14), high vacuum hydration tank (34), decolorization tank (37), and deodorization tank (39). The pressure sensor monitors the pressure of the screw press (21) and vacuum equipment. The liquid level sensor monitors the liquid level of each tank. The particle size sensor monitors the particle size of tea seed kernels after screening by the grading sieve (13). The concentration sensor monitors the concentration of tea liquid. The actuators (43) include a variable frequency motor, solenoid valve, regulating valve, and metering pump (312). The PLC controller (41) is electrically connected to the sensors (42) and actuators (43). It can preset production parameters, collect the operating data of each module in real time, and automatically adjust the screw speed, heating temperature, vacuum degree, tea liquid ratio, and valve opening to achieve full-process automated control. It also has a fault alarm function to improve production stability.

[0010] Compared with the prior art, the present invention has the following advantages: (1) Excellent nutrient retention: Through low-temperature drying, dual-mode temperature-controlled pressing and high-vacuum refining processes, combined with tea infusion to replenish tea polyphenols, the loss of heat-sensitive nutrients is minimized, significantly improving the nutritional value of tea oil. The content of tea polyphenols in the finished product is 10-15% higher than that of the existing system. (2) High production efficiency: The entire process is designed to be continuous, with seamless connection between pretreatment, pressing and refining processes. The dual-path filter enables continuous filtration without stopping, and the production efficiency is more than 30% higher than that of the intermittent system, making it suitable for large-scale processing. (3) High degree of automation: Real-time monitoring and automatic adjustment of parameters are achieved through intelligent control modules, eliminating the need for manual intervention, reducing labor costs, ensuring product quality uniformity, and reducing human error; (4) High resource utilization rate: The shell residue and pressing residue removed by pretreatment can be recycled and reused to extract by-products, realize the comprehensive utilization of tea seed resources, and improve economic benefits; (5) Wide applicability: The design of grading screen and frequency conversion pressing can be adapted to different quality tea seeds, and the parameters can be flexibly adjusted to meet the production needs of different grades of tea oil. Attached Figure Description

[0011] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of the present invention.

[0012] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the intelligent control module of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0013] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments. See appendix. Figure 1 and attached Figure 2 The following embodiments are used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present invention, rather than to limit the scope of protection of the present invention. All embodiments are based on the tea seed oil refining system described in the present invention, using the same batch of tea seeds (moisture content 18%, kernel content 72%) as raw materials, and using the existing conventional tea seed oil refining system as a control group to compare and analyze product quality and production efficiency.

[0014] Example 1: Large-scale general-purpose tea oil production The parameters and operating flow of each module of the tea seed oil refining system in this embodiment are as follows: In the pretreatment module (1), after the magnetic separator (11) is started, the magnetic field strength is stabilized at 1000Gs, and the tea seeds are continuously magnetically separated to remove impurities, and the metal impurity removal rate reaches 99.8%; The shelling machine (12) adopts a roller pressing structure, and the roller pressing gap is adjusted to 1.2mm, and the shelling efficiency reaches 96.5%. After separation by the air separation mechanism, the amount of shell residue mixed in is controlled within 2%; The grading screen (13) has a screen hole diameter of 3mm, which screens out uniform tea seed kernels with a particle size of 2-3mm, removes broken residue and unshelled tea seeds, and the grading qualification rate reaches 95%; The low temperature dryer (14) adopts a hot air circulation mode, sets the drying temperature to 50℃, the wind speed to 1.5m / s, and the drying time to 1.5h, which accurately reduces the moisture content of the tea seed kernels to 9%, and controls the tea polyphenol loss rate to within 5%. In the pressing module (2), the heating jacket (22) simultaneously turns on electric heating (power 4kW) and steam heating (pressure 0.4MPa) dual modes. The heating ratio is adjusted by the intelligent control module (4) to stabilize the pressing temperature at 75℃. The screw press (21) adopts a variable diameter screw barrel, and the screw speed is adjusted to 100r / min, and the pressing pressure is maintained at 8MPa. In the refining module (3), dried green tea leaves and purified water (material-to-liquid ratio 1:10) are added to the tea infusion tank (31), the stirring mechanism is turned on (speed 60r / min), and the tea is infused at room temperature for 4 hours. The concentration of tea polyphenols is monitored by the concentration detector until it reaches 18%. The tea is then pumped to the mixing tank (32) by the metering pump (312) at a volume ratio of crude oil to tea liquid of 12:1. The mixing tank (32) is stirred at a speed of 80r / min for 20 minutes. After being heated to 60°C by the plate heater (33), the tea is sent to the high vacuum hydration tank (34) to maintain a vacuum of -0.098MPa and a hydration temperature of 60°C. The hydration and degumming time is 30 minutes to remove more than 98% of the phospholipids from the crude oil. The hydrated oil is then... The grease is centrifuged (35) at 3000 r / min to separate water and impurities. Activated clay (2.5% by weight of the grease) is added through an oil-soil mixer (36) and then sent to a decolorizing tank (37) where the temperature is maintained at 90℃ and the vacuum at -0.098 MPa for 40 min. After decolorization, the grease is filtered by a dual-path blade filter (38) with a filtration accuracy of 8 μm. The two filters work alternately, with each path having an online cleaning time of 15 min to ensure continuous production. After filtration, the grease is sent to a deodorizing tank (39) where the temperature is maintained at 200℃ and the vacuum at -0.099 MPa for 1.5 h. Finally, it is cooled to 35℃ by a cooler (310) and sent to a finished product storage tank (311). The intelligent control module (4) presets threshold values ​​for each parameter, and the PLC controller (41) collects data from each sensor (42) in real time, automatically adjusting the screw speed, heating power, vacuum, and flow rate of the metering pump (312) without human intervention throughout the process.

[0015] Using the above system to process tea seeds, the single batch processing capacity reached 500 kg, with an oil yield of 28%, which is 4 percentage points higher than the control group (24%). The finished tea oil has an unsaturated fatty acid content of 92.3% and a tea polyphenol content of 1.35 mg / g, which is 42.1% higher than the control group (0.95 mg / g). It has no burnt or off-flavors, an acid value of 0.35 mg KOH / g, and a peroxide value of 0.05 g / 100g, all of which are better than the first-grade standard of GB / T 11765-2021 "Camellia Seed Oil". The single batch production cycle is shortened to 4.5 hours, which is 43.75% more efficient than the control group (8 hours), and the product qualification rate reaches 99.5%.

[0016] Example 2: Production of High-End Health-Promoting Tea Oil In this embodiment, in response to the high requirements for the retention of active ingredients in high-end health tea oil, the system parameters and operating procedures are adjusted as follows: In the pretreatment module (1), the magnetic field strength of the magnetic separator (11) is set to 800Gs to avoid the slight influence of strong magnetic field on the active ingredients of tea seed kernels; the grading sieve (13) is set to a sieve hole diameter of 2mm to screen high-quality tea seed kernels with a particle size of 1.5-2mm; the temperature of the low-temperature dryer (14) is reduced to 40℃, the drying time is extended to 2h, the moisture content of tea seed kernels is reduced to 8%, and the loss rate of tea polyphenols is controlled within 3%. The pressing module (2) is only turned on in steam heating mode with a pressure of 0.3MPa. The pressing temperature is stabilized at 65℃ through intelligent temperature control, and the speed of the screw press (21) is adjusted to 80r / min to reduce the pressing intensity and reduce the degradation of active ingredients. In the refining module (3), the concentration of tea liquid in the tea liquid soaking tank (31) is reduced to 15%, and the volume ratio of crude oil to tea liquid is adjusted to 15:1 to avoid excessive tea liquid causing turbidity of oil; the high vacuum hydration tank (34) maintains a vacuum of -0.095MPa and a hydration temperature of 55℃, and shortens the hydration time to 25min; the amount of activated clay added is reduced to 2%, and the temperature of the decolorization tank (37) is 85℃ to reduce the adsorption loss of tea polyphenols by the clay; the temperature of the deodorization tank (39) is reduced to 190℃, and the deodorization time is extended to 2h, so as to remove the odor completely while retaining the active ingredients to the maximum extent; the filtration accuracy of the dual-path blade filter (38) is improved to 5μm to further remove tiny impurities.

[0017] This system processes tea seeds with an oil yield of 26%, which is slightly lower than that of Example 1. However, the finished tea oil has a polyphenol content of 1.42 mg / g and a squalene content of 0.85 mg / g, which are 49.5% and 30.7% higher than the control group, respectively. The heat-sensitive nutrients are well preserved. The acid value is 0.28 mg KOH / g and the peroxide value is 0.04 g / 100g. The flavor is light and pure, which meets the standards of high-end health oils and is suitable for infants, young children and the elderly.

[0018] Comparative experiments show that the system of the present invention, through the pretreatment module (1) for precise grading and impurity removal, the pressing module (2) for dual-mode temperature control, the refining module (3) for vacuum low-temperature synergistic nutrient enhancement, and the intelligent control module (4) for full-process regulation, has increased the tea polyphenol retention rate by more than 40%, increased the production efficiency by more than 40%, and significantly improved the product quality stability compared with the existing conventional system. It can flexibly adapt to the large-scale production needs of tea oil of different grades.

Claims

1. A tea seed oil refining system, characterized in that, It includes a pretreatment module (1), a pressing module (2), a refining module (3) and an intelligent control module (4). Each module is connected in series with a control valve through a conveying pipeline to form a closed-loop continuous production link. The pretreatment module (1) includes a magnetic separator (11), a shelling machine (12), a grading screen (13), and a low-temperature dryer (14) connected in sequence along the material conveying direction. The outlet of the magnetic separator (11) is connected to the inlet of the shelling machine (12). The outlet of the shelling machine (12) is connected to the shell residue collection box (15) and the grading screen (13) in two separate paths. The tea seed kernels screened by the grading screen (13) are sent to the low-temperature dryer (14). The pressing module (2) includes a screw press (21), a heating jacket (22), and a slag recovery device (23). The feed inlet of the screw press (21) is connected to the discharge outlet of the low-temperature dryer (14). The heating jacket (22) is wrapped around the outside of the screw press (21) and adopts a dual mode of electric heating and steam heating. The oil outlet of the screw press (21) is connected to the refining module (3), and the slag outlet is connected to the slag recovery device (23). The refining module (3) includes a tea infusion tank (31), a mixing tank (32), a high vacuum hydration tank (34), an oil-soil mixer (36), a decolorizing tank (37), a deodorizing tank (39), a dual-path blade filter (38), and a finished product storage tank (311). The tea infusion tank (31) is connected to the inlet of the mixing tank (32). The outlet of the mixing tank (32) is connected to the high vacuum hydration tank (34) via a plate heater (33). The high vacuum hydration tank (34) is connected to the decolorizing tank (37) via a centrifuge (35) and an oil-soil mixer (36). The decolorizing tank (37) is connected to the deodorizing tank (39) via a dual-path blade filter (38). The deodorizing tank (39) is equipped with a high vacuum system, and its outlet is connected to the finished product storage tank (311) via a cooler (310). The intelligent control module (4) includes a PLC controller (41), multiple sensors (42) and actuators (43). The sensors (42) are respectively set at key positions of each module to collect temperature, pressure, liquid level and particle size parameters. The PLC controller (41) is electrically connected to the actuators (43) of each module to realize automatic adjustment and control.

2. The tea seed oil refining system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The magnetic field strength of the magnetic separator (11) is 800-1200Gs, the sieve hole diameter of the grading sieve (13) is adjustable in the range of 2-5mm, the drying temperature of the low temperature dryer (14) is controlled at 40-60℃, and the drying time is 1-2h.

3. The tea seed oil refining system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The heating jacket (22) has an electric heating power of 3-5kW and a steam heating pressure of 0.3-0.5MPa. The screw speed of the screw press (21) is adjustable from 50-150r / min and the pressing temperature is controlled at 60-90℃.

4. The tea seed oil refining system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The tea infusion tank (31) is equipped with a stirring mechanism and a concentration detector. The concentration of tea polyphenols is controlled at 15-20%. The tea liquid is delivered to the mixing tank (32) by a metering pump (312) at a volume ratio of tea seed oil to tea liquid of 10:1-15:

1.

5. The tea seed oil refining system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The high-vacuum hydration tank (34), decolorization tank (37) and deodorization tank (39) are all high-pressure resistant containers with a working vacuum degree ≥-0.095MPa, a hydration temperature of 50-70℃, and a deodorization temperature of 180-220℃.

6. The tea seed oil refining system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The dual-path blade filter (38) is set in parallel, and the filter material is a composite layer of non-woven fabric and diatomaceous earth. The filtration accuracy is 5-10μm, and it can achieve alternating operation and online cleaning.

7. The tea seed oil refining system according to claim 1, characterized in that, The sensors (42) include a temperature sensor, a pressure sensor, a liquid level sensor, a particle size sensor and a concentration sensor. The actuators (43) include a variable frequency motor, a solenoid valve, a regulating valve and a metering pump (312). The PLC controller (41) supports parameter preset and fault alarm functions.

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