Sustainable olive & avocado oil production: compliance and efficiency
It takes a warm climate to successfully grow olives and avocados, which means they thrive in areas of the world where the preservation of vital resources, especially water, is monitored and regulated closely.
Added to this, the history and tradition behind some edible oil production, particularly the olive oil process, and the distinct gradings such as virgin and extra virgin oils, means that strict compliance often runs alongside sustainability and efficiency as key challenges that must be robustly tackled.
For the producer, that means that is absolutely vital to work with partners who have the expertise, technology and equipment that can be relied upon to deliver compliant, efficient and sustainable manufacture.
Alfa Laval is just such a partner, with a proud history in the edible oil sector, where it has led the way in transforming olive oil production over the last century, and then taken that pioneering spirit into the relatively new world of commercial avocado oil processing.
How is olive oil made sustainably, efficiently and compliantly?
The process behind olive oil production has come a long way over the centuries, driven by innovators such as Alfa Laval, where every new technique and piece of equipment added to the traditional olive oil press machine is designed to boost efficient and sustainable operations and ensure compliance.
Over the years Alfa Laval has been proven to have a unique affinity with olive oil. While others have been passive participants, Alfa Laval has sought to raise its customers above the competition and embed new technologies that have had profound impacts on the industry as a whole.
Launching the use of high-speed separation almost a century ago, followed by the introduction of decanters a few decades later, Alfa Laval initiated milestones that have seen olive oil processing take huge steps forwards in terms of efficiency, sustainability, and quality.
In the last 10 years, the Olive Oil Booster system has taken that up yet another notch with a combination of thermal and separation technologies – a plate heat exchanger and decanter – to deliver a solution that has seen significant reductions in water and energy use. That is great news when it comes to satisfying regulators and protecting the environments of local communities.
How is avocado oil made sustainably, efficiently and compliantly?
The major avocado producing countries can be found in the Americas, where countries like Mexico (the biggest producer in terms of volume) often face stringent water-saving regulations from authorities looking to protect communities.
The pressures on avocado oil producers are clear, and Alfa Laval offers a complete range of processing solutions which drive sustainability and efficiency improvements and secure regulatory compliance.
In fact, Alfa Laval is one of few companies that can provide equipment across the avocado processing line, from the initial sorting and destoning to the extraction and final packaging and does so for operations of all shapes and sizes and for large-scale crude avocado oil as well as high-quality extra virgin oil production.
Technological development in avocado oil extraction is extremely limited, and the industry relies on conventional extraction techniques derived from olive oil extraction. High energy and water consumption is often used for extraction. Alfa Laval offers a number of significant innovations for Avocado Oil extraction (paste thermal conditioning, Oil Booster, Sigma and Oil Plus Decanter) that provide a significant competitive advantage in terms of extraction efficiency.
All the innovative equipment is underpinned by Alfa Laval’s drive for sustainability and efficiency, maximizing water and energy use and delivering more for less.
Partnering with a reliable innovator
Alfa Laval is not only a reliable partner; it will take its customers on a journey of innovation and precision engineering to ensure that they stay at the cutting edge of the edible oil industry.
And because Alfa Laval has cross-industry global expertise, it can bring solutions from one production line or region to another customer with great effect. The Olive Oil Booster, for example, can be adapted for avocado processing and has the potential to make significant impacts here.
Across this processing landscape, Alfa Laval has an unrivalled history and expertise that makes it the perfect partner to join with producers.
This is not only with a view to bolstering the sustainability and efficiency of operations, but also in offering an expert and reassuring presence that can engage with external authorities and evidence compliance through in-depth discussion and documentation.
All of this creates a bedrock of sustainability and efficiency from which a producer can launch and develop industry-leading, profitable operations.
