Olive Processing Plant & Machinery Solutions

Fruit is tipped from the field crates, leaves and twigs are blown off, and the olives are washed and rinsed to take away soil and spray residue. Because olives arrive wet and bruise easily, they are moved on conveyors and taken into the mill soon after reception.

Washed olives, stone included, are crushed into a paste so the oil is released from the fruit cells. The paste is then carried straight on to mixing without being held.

The paste is stirred slowly in jacketed vessels so the small oil droplets meet and join into a separable phase. Warm water circulating in the jacket keeps the paste at an even working temperature throughout the batch.

The malaxed paste is separated into oil, vegetation water and pomace, and the oil is then polished to take out the last solids. Pomace is conveyed away for drying or disposal as a by-product.

Oil is settled and held in closed tanks away from light and air, then filled into bottles, capped and labelled. Filling and closing run in line so the oil spends little time exposed.

Olives intended for the table are cured in brine in tanks, then graded and pitted before filling into jars or cans. Closed containers are labelled to the pack and grade being run.