| abstract |
A process for the pretreatment of a crude tall oil (ARB) for the elimination of impurities, said process comprising a first pretreatment stage that involves washing the ARB, where the ARB is put in contact with water in a lesser amount of 5% by weight of the incoming ARB for washing the ARB, and a separation of a first oil phase comprising the refined ARB and an aqueous phase containing impurities, where the separation of the first pretreatment stage is carried out in a unit of separation where the separation is driven by centrifugal force, and a second stage involving a separation of a second oil phase from the aqueous phase, wherein the recovered second oil phase is fed to the first oil phase comprising refined ARB or the second Recovered oil phase is fed to the ARB, where the refined ARB is fed to a processing system that provides separation of volatile components that have boiling points. llition below 170 ° C present in the refined ARB to provide a "tall oil stream with no volatile components". wherein the refined ARB is further treated in a process comprising vacuum fractionation of the refined ARB in at least one stream of refined resin diesel (DRR) or tall oil fatty acids (AGAR), said DRR or AGAR comprising 2-40% by volume of resin acids and 20-90% by volume of fatty acids, and at least one stream of resin acid (s) (AcR) comprising less than 5% by volume of fatty acids, and wherein prior to vacuum fractionation in at least one stream of refined diesel resin (DRR) or tall oil fatty acid (AGAR) and at least one stream of resin acid (s) (AcR), the A volatile free tall oil stream is vacuum treated to separate the high-boiling ARB components as a liquid stream, tall oil tar (AAR), from a gaseous stream comprising fatty acids and resin. |