Project Overview
Colombia presents a compelling opportunity for domestic edible oil refining: the country is the largest palm oil producer in the Americas, yet significant quantities of refined oil are imported. A Bogotá entrepreneur identified the arbitrage — buy crude palm oil direct from Meta and Casanare growers at a discount to Rotterdam parity, import crude soybean and sunflower from Argentina and Brazil, refine all three locally, and sell under the "Aceite Bogotano" brand to Colombian retail chains.
The 50 TPD continuous physical refinery installed in Fontibón Industrial Zone processes all three crude oil types using a single production line with switchable parameter profiles. Within nine months of commissioning, Aceite Bogotano had secured listing in Éxito Group, Jumbo Colombia, and the fast-growing D1 discount chain.
Challenge
The technical challenge of a multi-oil continuous refinery is parameter management: palm olein requires different bleaching earth dosage and deodorizing temperatures than soybean or sunflower. Colombian palm olein FFA typically ranges 0.5–1.5%, requiring robust caustic neutralization. Imported soybean crude FFA 0.2–0.5% requires lighter treatment to minimize refining loss. INVIMA's BPM and HACCP requirements apply equally to all three oil product lines.
The business challenge was proving that local refining cost was competitive with importing finished refined oil — a calculation that shows approximately 15–25% cost advantage for local refining at this scale, driven by lower tariffs on crude oil, local packaging, and elimination of finished-goods freight.
Solution
SinoOil designed a continuous physical refinery with three pre-programmed oil profiles accessible from the Spanish SCADA HMI: Profile 1 (palm olein, FFA 0.5–1.5%, bleaching earth 1.5–2.0%, deodorizer 240°C), Profile 2 (crude soybean, FFA 0.2–0.5%, bleaching earth 0.8–1.2%, deodorizer 230°C), Profile 3 (crude sunflower, FFA 0.3–0.8%, bleaching earth 0.8–1.2%, deodorizer 225°C). Heat recovery heat exchangers on four points reduce natural gas consumption by 32% versus a non-recovered design — critical for Bogotá's industrial energy costs.
INVIMA compliance documentation includes Spanish-language HACCP records, batch certificates, and BPM (Buenas Prácticas de Manufactura) audit logs. The Lovibond colour meter and in-line QC lab enable the client to issue test certificates for each production batch.