Iranian Specialists Make Device for Physical Purification of Olive Oil without Harmful Chemicals
The molecular distillation device was designed and built for the first time in the country in the Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology and it was used for physical purification (without the use of solvents) of Lampante olive oil and the separation of free fatty acids which is an important step in the process of industrial production of edible oils.
The device can be used to produce refined edible oil and extract compounds with high economic value like squalene and octacosanol which are applicable in cosmetics and health industries as by-products.
Mohammad Hassan Eekani, a member of the academic staff of the Research Institute of Chemical Technologies, was in charge of implementation of the project, and the development of this method was completed with the financial support of the Iranian Research Organization for Science and Technology, and Iran National Science Foundation.
In a relevant development in April, researchers at the Faculty of Agricultural Technology of Tehran University had also succeeded in making a device for testing quality and detecting fake olive oil rapidly.
They designed a hybrid system using ultrasound and an electronic nose with an effective, non-destructive, accurate, and environmentally friendly method, which determines the quality of olive oil in less than a few minutes.
In food products such as extra virgin olive oil, many frauds may occur which, in addition to material damage, may cause poisoning and physical harm to the consumer.
Fraud in the supply of olive oil usually involves adding a lower-priced oil to the product, so that there is no change in the indicators.
Therefore, it is not so easy to identify olive oil impurities, and the conventional methods for determining the quality of olive oil are often destructive, time-consuming, and expensive.
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