Modeling and simulation of nitrogen injection in olive oil

The aim of this study is to analyze, by means of a computational fluid dynamics (CFD) analysis, the injection of gaseous nitrogen (N2) in olive oil. This process, called sparging, is important to enhance oil shelf life, because it removes the oxygen (O2) dissolved in the product. In fact, when tank filling begins, N2 bubbles start to rise toward the free surface of the product, taking with them part of the dissolved O2. In this way, the probability of oxidative reactions is reduced and this consequently reduces the possibility of oil degradation. The final goal of this study is to compare different sparger configurations and observe how they influence the stripping process during the tank-filling phase. The various configurations have been compared in terms of O2 residual inside the tank at the end of the filling phase. The simulations still need to be experimentally validated.