Margarine

Margarine

Plastic tub of margarine

Margarine is a butter substitute derived from vegetable oils. It is often seen as a healthier option to butter as it contains fewer unsaturated fats. 

Margarine (or oleomargarine) can be used as a spread or as an ingredient in other foods like baked goods. It is an oil/water emulsion which by US law must contain 80% fat. Products with less than 80% fat are called “spreads.” Commonly used vegetable oils include soybean oil, sunflower oil, canola oil, and palm oil, although some margarines may include animal fats. Raw material viscosities can range from 200 cPs in outdoor storage tanks to 10 cPs during heated processing, then the margarine becomes a semisolid following interesterification or hydrogenation and cooling/crystallization. Specific gravity is only slightly less than water, in the range of 9.1 – 9.5. 

Positive displacement pumps are commonly used to process oils into margarine, typically iron internal gear pumps for truck unloading and tank farm transfer of oils, with hygienic stainless steel lobe or circumferential piston pumps for processing. Positive displacement pumps enable high efficiency regardless of fluid viscosity and can even pump the semisolid margarine from cooling through kneading and working to packaging. Because flow rate is proportional to speed they can be easily controlled to match process speed. Hygienic design enables fast and easy clean-in-place or strip cleaning to ensure sanitization. 

Viking in the Process 

Viking internal gear pumps are commonly used in edible oil processing facilities as well as margarine producers, from truck or railcar unloading to tank farm transfer, oil blending and refining (e.g. degumming, neutralization, bleaching and deodorization). Viking hygienic circumferential piston pumps are used in downstream processes from emulsification, cooling and crystallization to kneading and packaging. 
 

 

    Applications

    • Raw material truck unloading, tank farm transfer 
    • Oil and margarine processing 

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