Soybean Oil Production Process

Production of high quality soybean oil is the main objective of a soybean oil production plant.

Storage and Crushing

As with any other seed oil processing plant, storage is a very crucial aspect. Soybeans are received and stored in specially prepared silos in the soybean oil mill plant. Before they are stored, they are thoroughly cleaned and dried. Stray metallic particles are then removed from the beans using “Tramp Iron Removal” where magnets are placed strategically to remove materials such as nails, staples, baling wire, etc. Apart from this, other methods are used to remove the foreign material. Soybeans are then stored under necessary temperature and moisture.

Crushing

crushing the soybeans is the next step and some common types of crsuhing methods include:

· Conventional Crushing – soybean tempering followed by cracking and screening;

· Hot Crushing – a fluidized bed is used to achieve the desired moisture level before cracking;

· Esher Wyss Crushing – here soybeans are first cracked into two pieces and then required moisture is attained using a fluidized bed;

The main purpose of cracking is to get the right sized flakes for oil extraction. After crushing, the hulls are separated from the meats.

Conditioning and Oil Extraction

In order to effectively extract the oil, conditioning is used to soften the meals. The conditioned flakes are fed through a pair of smooth surface rolls, where they get crushed and the crude soybean oil drains out.

The soy meal is collected separately and toasted to deactivate urease and trypsin inhibitor. Subjecting the meat to appropriate temperature gives a good quality soy meal. This meal is stored separately and used for various purposes and most importantly for animal feeding.

Soybean Oil Production Plant

Once the crude oil is collected, it is set to cool at 65℃ before exposing it to air as at high temperature, oxidative degradation will occur. Then the oil is sent for refining where this crude oil will be converted to usable cooking oil.

Soybean Oil Refining

The first step of refining is called as Degumming where soybean oil which has high amount of hydratable phosphatides are neutralized. Then caustic refining is done to remove fatty acids, phosphatides and other materials. The next step involves removing oxidation products, triglycerides and reducing color pigments. Finally deodorization is done where volatile components such as pesticides, glycerol and free fatty acids are removed.

Small Soybean Oil Refinery Plant