Development of Sunflower Oil Mini-Refinery Technology for Enhancing Quality and Productivity of Small-Scale Edible Oil Processing in Tanzania

Small-scale edible oil processors often struggle to produce sunflower oil of sufficient quantity and quality from the seed, which has led to low income and reduced market. Hence, the objective of this paper was to design, fabricate, operate and performance evaluation of mini-refinery plant for sunflower oil production in Usa River township in Arusha, Tanzania using appropriate standard techniques. Result showed that crude oil had an acid value of 0.77 mg KOH/g, FFA of 0.39%, moisture content of 0.1002%, peroxide value of 1.81 meq O₂/kg, and a refractive index of 1.4720. Results of refined oil without filtering demonstrated a decrease of: Acid value to 0.21, FFA to 0.10%, moisture to 0.01%, peroxide value to 0.82. Similarly, the results of refined oil with filtering showed that acid value was 0.50, FFA of 0.25%, moisture of 0.02%, peroxide value of 0.71. The refractive index for all samples remained at 1.4720. Results of refined oil for both filtered and unfiltered oil met the standards (acid value (≤ 0.6), FFA (≤ 0.3), moisture (≤ 0.2), peroxide value (≤ 10)), and a bit higher than the standard refractive index range (1.4670–1.4710). Productivity analysis for both filtered and unfiltered refined oil showed a yield of 94% and a loss of 6% due to bleaching steps. The oil refined (Filtered and unfiltered) had lower acid values and FFA compared to all refined samples available in the market. This indicate that the developed sunflower oil mini-refinery plant is better in performance than locally filtered edible oils, hence the small-scale processors can adopt the innovation. The mini-refinery technology significantly improves sunflower oil quality, meeting national and international standards, enhances yield, and provides substantial income benefits. This technology can be valuable for small-scale processors if scaled correctly; further work is needed on cost optimization, increasing the oil shelf life, and nutritional preservation.