Extraction processes of oil from treated soybean seeds

Screw pressing:



Soybeans are widely processed by screw pressing after cooking the seed. The beans are
heated and the oil is squeezed out. The pressed oil usually goes to settling basins to
reduce fine solids content, with the fines being recycled to the screw press. The oil then
goes to polish filters before being placed into storage for shipment to a refinery. The
meal may sell for premium prices when adequate numbers of dairy animals are located
nearby.









Direct solvent-extraction


Direct solvent extraction is the most widely used oil-recovery method for soybeans, but
it also requires considerable capital and large scale to compete. At various times,
soybeans have been extracted commercially with petroleum distillate fractions that
resemble gasoline, acetone, carbon disulfide, ethanol, trichloroethylene, and even
water, which is not a true solvent but facilitates oil separation by creaming. A petroleum
distillate containing a mixture of hexane isomers having a typical boiling range of 65
degree C to 71 degree C is the only solvent used today. These products typically contain
45% to 70% n-hexane.
n-Haxane is considered a neurotoxin in the United States and has proven toxicity at high
concentrations. The U.S. Occupational Safety Administration has set the maximum
workplace exposure level at 500 ppm and a time-weighted average not to exceed 50
ppm. (J.M.Guinn, American Soybean Association, St. Louis, MO, 2002)

After proper cracking and conditioning, the desired cell distortion or cell rupture is
achieved that is necessary for efficient extraction. Highly distorted cells are desired so
that cell walls and pseudo-membranes around oil bodies are sufficiently ruptured, and
the oil can be easily contacted by the solvent and leached out. Soybeans are typically
flaked to 0.25 mm to achieve the desired distortion. (F. McDonald, oil mall gaz, 84(12),
25, 1980). The flakes may be conveyed directly to the extractor or to an expander. In
recent years, expanders have been adopted to achieve increased cell distortion and to
produce an easily extractable porous pellet (collets) that is denser than flaked soybeans.
Thereby, more mass of material can be placed into the fixed volume of the extractor,
the oil is more quickly extracted reducing extraction time, and the solvent drains more
completely reducing the load on meal desolventizing equipment.

Soybeans are exclusively extracted in the percolation (Percolation is the process of a
liquid slowly passing through a filter. ) mode as opposed to the immersion (Immersion is
the act of putting someone or something completely in a liquid or the state of being
completely in a liquid.) mode used during early days of soybean extraction. The
percolating solvent flows by gravity through the bed. Solvent is always passed
countercurrent to the transport of meal solids. There are several different types of
extractors, including chain and basket types, and shallow and deep bed types. Soybean
flakes or collets are extracted for 30-40 min in six or more stages.

The best quality oil, low in non-triacylglycerole components, is extracted first, and with
more exhaustive extraction, poorer quality oil is recovered. Thus at low residual oil
levels, the proportions of phosphatides, free fatty acid, and pigments that are extracted
are greater and so is the refining loss.

The full miscella (a solution or mixture containing an extracted oil or grease < from
soybeans obtained by extraction with a hydrocarbon solvent) or oil-rich extract
containing 20-30% oil drains from the freshest flaked or expanded meats and is sent to
solvent- recovery operations. The operations include two-stage evaporators and an oil
stripper. The oil content exiting the first-stage evaporator is 65-70% oil and is heated
with vapors from the desolventizer-toaster. After the second-stage evaporator, the oil
content is 90-95% oil. The oil stripper uses steam-injection vapor, high heat, and high
vacuum to remove the solvent less than 0.2% remaining in the oil. The temperature of
the oil in the stripper should not exceed 115 degree C to prevent scorching the oil and
causing dark color. Flash point determination is an easy method to assure that the
solvent-evaporation equipment is operating as it should and the flash point should
exceed 150 degree C. all evaporated solvent is recycled to the extractor. The oil should
be sent to a vacuum dryer to remove any residual stripping steam condensate and the
dry oil immediately cooled prior to placing into storage.


Extruding-expelling process


Recently, a third process, known as extruding-expelling ( or Express systems ) was
developed. (A.I.Nelson et al., Oil chem.. Soc., 64, 1341-1347, 1987, N.W.said,
INFORM,9(2),139-144,1997). In this process, a dry extruder, which generates heat solely
through friction of the beans in the extruder, replaces steam generating and steam
heating the beans. The heated beans then go to a screw press and the rest of the
process is the same as in screw pressing.

Qualities of soybean oils and meal extracted by different methods
Wang and Johnson (T.Wang and L.A.Johnson, Proceedings of 2003 International
Conference on Environment Systems, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, 2003)
compared the qualities of soybean oils and meals obtained by the three processing
methods.





Solvent extraction is by far the most efficient method of recovering oil from soybeans,
typically only about 1.2% residual oil is left in the meal. Screw pressing is slightly more
efficient in recovering oil than is extruding expelling, leaving 6.3% oil in screw pressed
meal compared with a mean of 7.2% for extruded- expelled meals.