Sunflower seed oil is a common edible oil in daily life, which is favored by consumers because of its rich nutrition and light taste. In order to ensure the quality of sunflower seed oil, the pretreatment steps in its processing are very important. The following are the main pretreatment steps of sunflower seed oil processing.

The first is cleaning up. Sunflower seeds are usually mixed with impurities after harvest, such as soil, stones, plant fragments and so on. These impurities will not only affect the efficiency of subsequent processing, but also damage processing equipment and adversely affect the quality of oil products. Therefore, before processing, sunflower seeds should be cleaned by screening and air separation to ensure that they are clean and free of impurities.

The next step is shelling. Sunflower seeds have hard shells outside, which not only contains no oil, but also may affect the subsequent oil extraction effect. Therefore, it is necessary to use special shelling equipment to separate the shells from the seed kernels. The shelled seeds have high oil content and are the main raw materials for oil extraction.

The third step is crushing. The purpose of crushing is to further decompose sunflower seeds, making it easier to release internal oil. This step is usually completed by using a roller or crusher, and the size of the crushed particles should be uniform, so that the subsequent processes can be carried out smoothly.

Then it is cooking. The purpose of steaming and frying is to activate the oil molecules in sunflower seeds by heating, and at the same time soften the seeds to make them easier to be squeezed out. In the process of steaming and frying, microorganisms in seeds can also be killed, further improving the sanitary quality of oil products.

The last is pre-pressing. Pre-pressing is a preliminary pressing of sunflower seeds to extract some oil. This step is usually carried out by screw oil press, and the pre-pressed cake can be used for further refining or other purposes.

The above steps are interlocking, which together constitute an important pretreatment link of sunflower seed oil processing. These processes not only ensure the oil yield of sunflower seed oil, but also ensure the purity and safety of oil products, providing consumers with high-quality edible oil.