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Milling process
Olive processing takes place entirely within Frantoio Donato Gallone.
Step 1
The olives are loaded ? leaves, stems and all - into subterranean hoppers.
Step 2
The olives are then transported on conveyor belts into the hydro-pneumatic cleaning machines, which may wash continuously or intermittently depending on the degree of debris on the olives and can separate the drupe from twigs, leaves, stones, etc. The cleaning water is removed via an internal channel system and is sent to the grit removal tank where all solid waste is processed, while the water is fed into the adjacent storage tank.
Step 3
The cleaned olives are sent on conveyor belts to hopper no.4, for temporary storage, before they are sent to be pressed.
Step 4
Once the olives get to the presses, they are ground down to a paste (containing both oil and water), which is then sent through the augers (machines with spiral mixing blades used for the removal and transportation of liquids or materials) in the malaxers.
Step 5
The olive paste that is produced reaches the malaxer for so-called malaxing (mixing) in order to separate the olive oil from the water and encourage small oil droplets to form bigger ones. After this phase, the paste goes into the decanter.
Step 6
Once it has reached the two-phase decanter, the oily paste, composed of the following parts: pulp, water, oil and solid particles (olive pits), undergoes centrifugation, which ensures a high degree of cleanliness and separates the pomace and the vegetable water (on one side), which - through an underground auger - are transported separately into the appropriate external tanks, while the must of the olive oil (containing a small amount of water) is sent to the other tank and then to vertical centrifugation.
Step 7
In the vertical centrifugal separators, thanks to high-speed rotation and as a result of their different densities, the oil and water are separated into two different outflows. During rotation, solid residues (sludge) are accumulated, which are removed through an automated safety system.
The obtained oil is placed in containers, weighed with electronic scales, analysed and then - depending on the quality - sent through a pipeline connected to stainless steel silos located in our underground storage area. The vegetable water and sludge (waste products) are removed and sent through an underground channel into special, external storage tanks.
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Discover our olive oil
Olive pit
The olive pit is a residual product produced in mills when making olive oil: thanks to separating machinery and a mechanical process, the pit can be separated from the virgin pomace oil.