PREPARATORY

PREPARATORY

Seed preparation process is done for the preparation of oilseeds prior to Expelling or solvent extraction. This process basically includes: -

Cooking-conditioning

The important reason for conditioning is that the obtained flakes will contain fewer fines and will be more stable during the extraction process. By the injection of live steam into a vertical stack cooker, it is possible to adjust the moisture content of the conditioned seed. At this point the kernel should be at a temperature of about 50-75°C and a moisture content of 10.5-12%. It aims at obtaining, by means of cookers-conditioners, the best conditions prior to flaking by heating and adjusting the moisture content of the various oil-bearing materials to be subjected to prepressing or extraction processes for the removal of the fat contained therein.

 

Flaking

The conditioned seed is then flaked. By deforming seed particles into flakes, press and shear forces are created, which will rupture the seed’s oil cells, making them more available to the extraction process.

 

Expanding

Expander is designed to break the raw material into smaller pieces. In order to remove the oil, the solvent must permeate through the solid material and dissolve the oil out. Oil is trapped within oil bodies inside cellular membranes with added protection. So, the Expander machine not only break the oilseed into smaller particles, they also attempt to shear open the oil containing bodies within the cellular structure through mechanical shearing. The more shearing the material is subjected to and the smaller the particle size, the easier it is for the solvent to recover the oil. Expander flatten the material into a thin, round pellets to maximize exposed surface area. These pellets are then passed on to the Solvent extraction after maintaining its temperature & moisture content in Dryer-cooler.

 

Expelling

Expelling of oilseeds means a mechanical method for extracting oil from oil bearing seeds by physical pressure. It is cost efficient, versatile and chemical-free. Usually, we press the material firstly by Expeller machine and then get the rest of oil in the meal by using chemical solvent.

 

Drying & Cooling

As the name indicates, it provides drying and cooling of the meal before forwarding it to the Solvent Extraction. The cake/pellets came out of Expeller/Expander is fed to Dryer-cooler equipment. In drying section, hot air is blown through the conveying meal helping in reduction of moisture content within meal. Whereas in cooling section, cold air is blown through the conveying meal helping to reduce the temperature of meal, because the temperature of incoming meal plays a vital role in solvent extraction. The outlet temperature of Dryer-cooler is having to be below 50°C, hence dryer-cooler helps in maintaining the temperature as per need.

Note: We are not responsible for variation in production, because of irregular rainfall, due to which the seed gets damage and results in loss of production.