Castor Oil Derivatives Plant

There are several processes to be followed in castor oil processing like seed crushing, seed cleaning and purification of crushed oil. The crushed oil is purified to get BSS Grade oil that is further used in the production of DCO (Dehydrated Castor Oil), HCO (Hydrogenated Castor Oil) and other value added derivatives like Undecylinic Acid and Heptaldehyde. If the castor oil is deodorized effectively, then, undesirable odors can be completely removed, resulting in the production of medicinal grade castor oil.

Our castor oil plants ensure hygienic extraction along with ease of operation. In these plants, one can achieve better biological value of meal, better desolventisation and more stable moisture. We make sure to use only standard quality of raw materials to manufacture these plants. This imparts sturdiness and resistance to the plant against corrosion, thus, ensuring long service and economical run in the industry. The castor oil plants are completely automatic in their operations and are fully suitable for both medium as well as large scale industrial processing.

Features

• Easy to operate
• Specially designed for high flow rate
• Ensure better desolventisation
• Convenient to clean
• Continuous process and fully automatic

Process Description For Castor Oil And Its Derivatives

Process Description For Hydrogenated Castor Oil [HCO]

• The raw material, bleached castor oil (BBS grade) is processed under vacuum condition at a temperature of around 160 degree Celsius in presence of nickel catalyst
• As soon as the raw material reaches its required temperature, the vacuum is stopped and hydrogen is fed, while the stirrer is still operating
• The hydrogen feed is closed as the required degree of hydrogenation is achieved and after this, hydrogenated product is started cooling
• As the product temperate reaches around 100°C, the final product gets filtered, cooled and then conveyed to flaking unit for flaking and bagged

Process Description For Dehydrated Castor Oil [DCO]

Castor oil of feed stock grade is pumped into the reaction vessel through de-aerator vessel. In this vessel, the oil gets dried and completely free from air. In the reaction vessel, a higher temperature and vacuum is maintained in which, continuous re-circulation of oil in the presence of a catalyst is done.

This helps in the dehydration of castor oil, increases the un- saturation level and brings down the hydroxyl content of castor oil. All this process, tries to maintain the quality of the product uniform. Finally, the oil is passed through heat exchangers for cooling and then catalyst filtration as soon as the required degree of un-saturation and dehydration is met. Post filtration, the product is conveyed to a decolorizing vessel as to remove the excess color from the oil.

Process Description For 12 – Hydroxy Stearic Acid [12–HSA]

• Under certain parameters, the hydrogenated castor oil, generated from HCO plant is converted to soap by mixing it with caustic lye
• The converted HCO soap is then conveyed to acidulation vessel, in which it is mixed with dilute sulphuric acid, thus converting the soaps into fatty acids
• The acid water left out, with 8% - 10% of glycerine, is then drained out and finally stored for the recovery of glycerine
• The acidulated product (12–hydroxy stearic acid) from the acidulation vessel, is fed into drier, in which, it gets completely dried up through controlled heating
• The dried 12–HSA is further cooled and is taken to flaking unit for flaking

Process Description For Castor Oil Polyols Plant

Refined Castor Oil is taken from the storage tank and then pumped into the premixing vessel. In the pre- mixing vessel, the catalysts are dropped and mixed properly through an attached auto feeding system. After this, the material flows to the preheating vessel through which, it is pumped into high pressure reactor. In the reactor, the propylene oxide is taken through pressure reducing valve at a pressure of about 6 bar. In the high pressure reactor, refined castor oil is mixed with propylene oxide that is circulated continuously through cooling heat exchanger with a pump. The continuous circulation results in effective heat and mass transfer as to produce qualitative product.

The material further undergoes through the process of aging and then pumped to the reactor vessel. The acid is then taken into the acid dosing tank through the dosing pump and is finally dropped into the reactor vessel. In the reactor, it gets neutralized and then pumped to the pressure leaf filters for filtering the solids materials. In the final step, a clear liquid is obtained and then stored in a separate storage tank.

The crude polyols is taken from the storage tank and is pumped into the reactor vessel in which the solvent is also added. All the materials are mixed properly before sending into the vacuum drying unit. After complete removal of all the residual impurities and volatiles, purified polyols are obtained and stored in a separate storage tank. The overhead volatile matter produced from the vacuum drying unit are condensed and collected in a separate storage tanks.

The volatile matter is further pumped into the solvent distillation reactor from which the solvent is further recovered and reused in the process.