Correctly managing the flow of the production process leads to enormous advantages in terms of efficiency and a reduction in costs, especially in terms of energy.
It goes without saying that the strengthening of the weak link of any process must be such that the advantages obtained with the innovation are greater than the costs that the innovation itself requires.
By acting on macroscopic variables such as time, temperature and composition of the atmosphere in contact with the olive paste, the biochemical reactions that occur simultaneously with the physical process of coalescence of the minute droplets of oil released in the pressing are modulated and determines how much and what quality of oil it will be possible to extract.
However, it is known that extraction yield and oil quality are antithetical values and that, therefore, any operational choice made with the machines currently present in the mill requires a choice that favors quality or quantity.
It is therefore necessary to develop a process that is able to carry out a delicate breakage of the cells passed intact to the crusher, avoiding emulsions and unwanted temperature rises, accelerate the coalescence phenomena (physical phenomenon through which the drops of a liquid join together to form larger entities) of the minute droplets of oil released by the elaioplasts (the leucoplasts specialized in storing lipids), allow the dissolution of the biophenols from the aqueous fraction of the olive paste towards the oily fraction and favor the enzymatic synthesis of the volatile compounds while limiting the oxidation reactions of fatty acids.
All harmonized in a system that can operate continuously, transferring the oil paste from the crusher to the decanter without recreating bottlenecks that penalize the latter’s working capacity.
After careful analysis and research, mature technologies capable of guaranteeing the improvements required in the process have not been identified in the agri-food sector.
To obtain them it is necessary to adopt technological innovations initially designed for other areas; among these, controlled cavitation represents the trump card to eliminate the bottleneck that was created due to the weak link in the continuous extraction process of extra virgin olive oil thanks to the effects that this induces within the same pasta oil during processing.
When conditions arise that lead to cavitation of a fluid, when negative pressure values are below the vapor pressure of the fluid itself, it undergoes a phase change from liquid to gas, forming cavities containing vapor and giving rise to the phenomenon cavitation.
Therefore cavitation is a physical phenomenon consisting in the formation of vapor bubbles inside a fluid that are formed not by an increase in temperature, but by pressure variations, these implode producing shock waves, i.e. pressure waves that can be extremely intense. If the implosion occurs near the cell wall of the drupe, it generates micro jets that break the wall, releasing the contents of the cell, all within a few microseconds.
