Development of a Pressure Control System According to Paste Rheology for Ultrasound Processing in Industrial Olive Oil Extraction

Recent research has demonstrated how ultrasound can benefit the industrial processing of olive paste before oil extraction. However, the absence of a device for controlling pressure inside the sonication cell is a major hindrance to its application. To address this problem, a pneumatic device with a programmable logic controller was implemented to automatically adjust pressure in the sonication cell according to a preset value: its functionality was tested in industrial oil extraction. An experiment was conducted to compare device performance when applied to olive batches with different solid/liquid ratios and differing rheology. The control system adjusted the flow section of the valve at the outlet of the sonication cell and the mass flow rate of the feed pump in order to maintain the pressure preset by the operator. Results indicate that the pressure was 3.0 ± 0.2 bar, 3.5 ± 0.2 bar, and 4.0 ± 0.2 bar when the set point was 3.0 bar, 3.5 bar, and 4.0 bar, respectively: there was thus no significant difference between controlled and set values. This indicates that the device is able to control pressure inside the sonication cell with a maximum deviation of 0.2 bar. In this case, the sonication intensity was stabilized at 135 W/cm2, 150 W/cm2, and 165 W/cm2 at 3.0 bar, 3.5 bar, and 4.0 bar, respectively. This study presents an advancement in ultrasound applications for industrial olive oil extraction: optimal pressure control in the sonication cell.