oils+fats 2013, a showcase for the oils and fats industry – taking place in parallel with drinktec

oils+fats: "The most important event in this segment"

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Klaus-Peter Eickhoff, Director, Business Unit Renewable Resources, GEA Westfalia Separator Group, is convinced of the idea behind oils+fats: "We are supporting oils+fats very strongly, because it is the only true platform that deals in a comprehensive way with this subject. There have been many smaller, regional congresses with info platforms attached, but no central event of this significance. For the GEA Westfalia Separator Group oils+fats is the most important event in this segment at international level."

Visitors benefit from the combination with drinktec

The combination with drinktec, the World´s Leading Trade Fair for the Beverage and Liquid Food Industry, makes perfect sense, according to Klaus-Peter Eickhoff Sinn, because "it means a broader spectrum of exhibitors. Now the visitors can meet up not only with engineering firms and machine manufacturers specialized purely on the oils and fats sector, but also pump suppliers, for example, or manufacturers of filling systems."

The high level of acceptance of the event is seen also in the steadily rising number of visitors from outside Germany, says Günter Simon, Managing Director of the Hamburg-based HF Press+LipidTech, Harburg-Freudenberger Maschinenbau GmbH: "Since the first edition of oils+fats we have been delighted with this event and were convinced it would be a success. We worked very hard on our presentation for oils+fats 2011 – and all that effort really paid off. In the end oils+fats 2011 marked the start of a range of international projects for us."

The search for more efficient processes

For years, says Günter Simon, the trend has been towards making processes more efficient, in order to continually optimize the price-performance ratio. Maximum oil yield, minimum oil losses and energy-savings in processing are important aspects in this. Then there are the health aspects, too: The findings from scientific research in the food sector are showing that we need to be very precise and sensitive in the way we use refining technology, to prevent the formation of newly discovered harmful substances and to remove them. The trend in the area of individual machines is towards ever higher throughputs, e.g. presses with a processing capacity of 800 tonnes of seed per day. Specialized concepts, custom designed for individual customers, are therefore of great importance for the industry.

The oils and fats processing sector is currently working intensively on the application of enzymes, to improve certain reactions, increase yields and design processes more effectively, e.g. in degumming, esterification and transesterification. The results of this should be presented at oils+fats 2013. In parallel with this there are attempts, using intensive mixing techniques, for example with cavitation mixers, to increase the reactions and therefore the yields, and to minimize losses in the processes. As in many other industries, in the edible oil industry, too, a general trend is emerging for reducing losses and energy consumption. Klaus Peter Eickhoff: "In terms of machine technology, direct-drive centrifuges are coming more to the fore, ones that are now also available with ATEX certificates for explosion-risk areas and can therefore be set up, for example, in extraction systems."

Edible oils sector benefits from the trend towards a Mediterranean diet

The highly regarded Mediterranean diet, with oil as a basic ingredient, is continuing to support growth in the edible oil sector. The health benefits of oil, olive oil in particular, with its polyunsaturated fats, valuable minerals and vitamins, have been scientifically proven. Olive oil, for example from Spain, which together with Italy and Greece accounts for over three quarters of world output, is exported mainly in glass bottles, because of the gourmet character of the product. Innovative filling systems, such as will be on show in the parallel event drinktec 2013, are used to fill these oils via base-handling. The exact fill quantity is filled, without pressure, by means of weighing cells on every single valve stem in line with the gravitation principle. For the filling of edible oils in PET containers, new filler-block solutions have been developed which combine inline PET production with weighing fillers. The advantage of the blocks is that as well as ensuring excellent hygienic standards, they offer tremendous energy-saving potential, an increase in efficacy and a reduction of maintenance costs, plus the possibility of using lightweight bottles.

Oilseed rape and renewable resources

The high growth rates in the edible oil sector were already a top theme at oils+fats in 2011. A second main theme was biodiesel, an area in which, however, in recent years much consolidation has taken place. Nevertheless the biodiesel market remains the most important sales market for example for German rapeseed growers. Companies that operate integrated systems, i.e. from oil extraction to refining into edible oils and biodiesel, have survived this consolidation process and will continue to grow further. The production of purely biodiesel, by contrast, is increasingly moving to where the raw materials are grown, in other words to South America, in particular to Argentine and Brazil, where soy beans are grown intensively, and to the palm oil regions of Southeast Asia and the canola growing areas of Canada. Beyond its use in the production of biodiesel, rapeseed oil also encompasses a range of other innovative and eco-friendly applications. For example, an asphalt has been developed that contains up to 20 percent rapeseed oil in place of crude oil. One manufacturer of roofing and insulation membranes replaces the bitumen in these products with rapeseed oil, and another application that continues to be popular is as a concrete release agent in the building industry. Rapeseed methyl ester is used in the dye industry, in car manufacturing and in the production of carbon paper. That´s sustainability in action.

One application that could grow in the future is the processing of algae for the production of bio fuels, proteins, oils and fats: Sustainable raw materials are in many ways a very topical subject in the food and energy sector. oils+fats 2013 is just the right place to get up to date on all the latest developments.

Contact

Messe München GmbH

oils+fats / drinktec Press Office

Johannes Manger and Benjamin Büttner

Tel. (+49 89) 949-21482 / 21 484

Johannes.Manger@messe-muenchen.de/

Benjamin.Buettner@messe-muenchen.de