Theoil mill
Our
philosophy
ENGINEERING
& TECHNOLOGY – OUR ALLIES
The private business Marakas Michalis N. Owns 500 acres of olive growing with about 10.000 olive trees.
Most of them are of Koroneiki variety but we also own 500 olive trees tsounati variety, 500 olive trees of matzanila variety (olives & olive oil) and other varieties such as 200 olive trees of Kalamon variety.
The private, two-phase oil mill, owns a BIOHELLAS certification on the exclusive grinding of organic olives. It is housed on the same land and it is the center of experimentation and engineering patents such as the recycling of residuals and the creation of byproducts. This results to the energy and farming self-sufficiency of the entire chain of production.
Description of
olive mill’s operation
The olive fruit, within 3-4 hours of its harvest, arrives to the olive mill in plastic pallet boxes. In about 2 more hours, it enters the production line.
First, the olive fruit is transported by a conveyor belt, to a double defoliator where 100% of the leaves, and most of the small branches and other foreign bodies, are removed.
Then, it enters the washing area, where an innovative washing system of the olive fruit has been implemented, which combines washing in a continuous renewed flow of water and washing with four nozzles of clean water, to remove stones and soil. The water is disinfected in a tank using ascorbic acid (proportion 0.004%).
At the end of the wash, there is a fan, using an air knife, which removes the water droplets from the now clean olive fruit.
This is followed by a 3-meter-long inspection belt, where all that may have escaped from the previous process (usually small olive wood – snails, etc.) while 2 employees also manually remove defective olives.
Then, the production is weighed on an electronic scale and transported again by a conveyor belt to the Crushing-Pitting machine. With a relevant adjustment, it is decided, on a case-by-case basis, the volume of olives that will be pitted.
The resulting olive paste is sent to the two softeners, using a mono pump and stainless steel tubes. The pits are removed, with mesh bags in a special sheltered area outside the oil mill, in order to remove the remaining moisture, so that it can be used for heating, in a specially designed boiler.
The softeners, with a capacity of 300 kg each, (as well as the Crushing-Pitting machine and the tubes that connect it to the softeners) have double jackets, where cold or hot water circulates depending upon the case. The Water temperature is automatically adjusted by a heat pump and a fully automated system with a touch screen. (The entire production mechanism and temperature modification of the olive paste, has been included in a subsidized program with the name ELIADA, in co-operation with the MAIX, aiming at improving the traits of the different olive varieties through DNA). The purpose of the entire process is to achieve a constant temperature (lower than 26°C) in the olive paste, regardless of the external temperatures, in order to avoid oxidation and quality degradation of the olive oil produced.
After 40′-45′ kneading of the oil paste (time required to fill each softener), with the help of a single pump and stainless tubes, the oil paste is pushed into the Decanter. There, through centrifugation, the mud and water contained in the olive fruit are removed. Also, the olive oil produced, again with the use of a small single pump and stainless tubes, goes to the Separator (a similar centrifugal machine which, however, removes any minimal amount of foreign matter present, using clean water (20lt/h) which has been disinfected using UV.
After the organoleptic and chemical evaluation of each batch of olive oil produced, (usually 50-80 kg) it is weighed and it is automatically decided in which of the 8 tanks with a capacity of 2-7 tons each, will be stored, with electric valves.
Depending upon the qualitative traits of each batch of olive oil produced, we decide whether to immediately filter it or store it. After 20 days, we transfuse it to a clean tank.
