The most important factor determining the quality of sunflower oil is the proper storage of seeds.
Seeds entering storage and processing are a heterogeneous mixture of sunflower seeds, as well as stems, leaves, sand and other inclusions. Seed cleaning takes place on various cleaning machines: separators, aspirators, stone collectors.
To reduce the moisture content of seeds, the drying method is used in industrial dryers of various types and, subsequently, active ventilation in special storages (elevators).
The preparation of seeds for sunflower oil production takes place in several stages: crushing, separation into fractions, and crushing.
Collapse.
The purpose of the collapse is to destroy the shells of oilseeds by mechanical action. As a result of the collapse, a rushanka is obtained - a mixture of several fractions: a tselyak - whole seeds, a nedorush - partially undisturbed seeds, a section - destroyed kernels, husk and oil dust - a seed shell.
Division into factions.
Separating the shells from the cores is of great importance. To increase productivity and improve the quality of the oil, the rushank is divided into a core and a husk so that shell lipids containing a large number of related substances do not pass into the oil.
Grinding of the core.
The purpose of this operation is to destroy the cellular structure of the nucleus in order to maximize oil extraction during further technological operations.
Sunflower oil production is a rather complicated process that includes several cycles: oil extraction, filtration, refining, deodorization, and freezing.
Let's briefly consider these basic processes.
Squeeze
As a result of pressing, 60-85% of the oil is extracted, i.e. pre-oil extraction is carried out. As a result of pre-pressing, pre-pressed oil (often called "first-pressed") and pre-pressed cake are obtained.

Extraction
The oil content in the cake is 14-20%, then it is sent for subsequent, final extraction by extraction.
The process is based on the ability of vegetable oils to dissolve in organic solvents. As a result of extraction, two types of raw materials are obtained: extraction miscella and meal.
Filtering
After extraction, the extraction cell contains up to 1% of impurities, and it is sent for filtration. The presence of solid impurities significantly complicates the process of distilling the solvent from the miscell and reduces the quality of the finished oil. The purified extraction cell should contain no more than 0.02% sludge.
Refining
Refining, that is, the purification of oil from related impurities, occurs in several technological stages.:
- Extraction of various mechanical impurities from raw materials through settling, filtration and centrifugation procedures.
- Removal of phosphatides from raw materials by means of exposure to heated oil with alkali in order to remove free fatty acids from its composition, which provoke oxidation and smoke formation during frying of the oil.
​Deodorization ​​​
The process is based on the difference in the evaporation temperature of aromatic substances and the oils themselves. Refined deodorized vegetable oil contains fewer nutrients than unrefined vegetable oil. But despite this, there are obvious advantages in this type of oil.: it is great for cooking dishes with heat treatment. Another great advantage of refined oil is its long shelf life.
​Freezing out
​​​The process of removing waxy substances that pass into oil from the seed and fruit shells of oilseed plants. The process consists of cooling the oil to a temperature of 10-12 ° C and then holding it at this temperature, stirring slowly to form wax crystals. Then the oil is heated to 18-20 ° C to reduce viscosity and filtered. After that, the oil does not become cloudy when cooled even to 5 ° C.
Sunflower oil is bottled on an automatic filling line in PET bottles of one and five liters. Next, the prepackaged oil is sent to the packaging and sent to the consumer.