How to Refine Sunflower Oil

Clean the sunflower's outer seed membrane or husk with an industrial cleaning machine to remove dirt and dust.

Hull the sunflower seeds with a dehulling machine. Squeeze out the oil with an expeller press.

Bathe the seed pulp and oil in a hexane solvent bath where steam is applied to squeeze out more oil. The oil and seed residues are poured into a centrifuge.

Add phosphate into the centrifuge to evaporate the solvents and separate the oil and seed residues. Add water to the separated oil to allow the non-water hydrated phosphatides to settle and be removed by the centrifuge. This is known as the degumming process.

Treat the sunflower oil with caustic soda to remove impurities, such as wax, pigments and fatty acids. This process is known as neutralizing.

Bleach chlorophyll and carotenoid pigments, which are found in the sunflower's seed oil, with fuller's earth clay to remove impurities. This is known as the filtration process.

Remove volatile compounds with a distillation device that is attached to the centrifuge to remove foul odor and taste, which is left from the neutralizing process. Pressurize the sunflower oil in the distillation device and steam it at 500 degrees Fahrenheit, which is known as the deodorization process. Add citric acid to inactivate copper and iron metals in the newly refined sunflower oil.