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Home » Books & Directory » Food Processing and Agriculture Based Products,Industries
» Modern Technology Of Oils, Fats & Its Derivatives
Translations done using Google Translate. All products available on our website are in
English only.
Published: 2002
Publisher: National Institute of Industrial Research
Usually ships within 3 days
The book contains the manufacturing processes and other related information of
important Oils, Fats and their derivatives. This is very helpful book for professionals,
students, entrepreneurs and established one.
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Contents Hide
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Sample Chapters
(Following is an extract of the content from the book) Hide
Even after the most efficient pressing, an oil cake will retain an appreciable amount to
absorbed oil, usually amounting to 2.5 to 5% by weight. In the case of seed or other
materials initially high in oil and low in solids content, the un-extracted residue will
contain only a small fraction of the total oil. However, in seeds of low oil content, for
example, soybeans, it may contain as much as 15% to 20% of the total oil. For the
processing of low-soil seeds solvent extraction is particularly valuable, since it will
reduce residual oil in the extracted seeds to less than 1%. The chief disadvantages of
solvent extraction are the high initial seeds to less than 1%. The chief disadvantages of
solvent extraction are the high initial cost of the equipment and the fact that some oil
seeds disintegrate under the influence of the solvent and consequently are difficult to
handle.
A number of more-or-less critical operations in oil milling are auxiliary to the actual
expression or extraction. Wherever possible it is desirable to decorticate oil seeds before
the oil is removed in order both to increase the capacity of the extraction equipment and
to avoid loss of oil through absorption by the hulls. The seeds must then be rolled, g
round, or otherwise reduced to fine particles. After they are reduced, they must be given
heat treatment to make the walls of the oil cells permeable to the oil and to render the oil
free-flowing, except where solvent extraction is used; then heat treatment is not generally
necessary. In processing cottonseed, special attention must be given to the inactivation of
gossypol or other toxic constituents.
In extracting oil from oil seeds there are some major differences between common
American and common European practice. They result from basic differences in the
supply of raw materials. Most American mills operate on domestic oil seeds, and they are
usually located close to producing areas. Frequently only one type of oil seed is
processed. The quality of the seed is generally high, with relatively little variation in seed
characteristics through the processing season or from one season to another. European
mills, on the other hand, process imported raw materials almost exclusively, and each
mill must be prepared to handle a variety of oil seeds differing widely in quality and
processing characteristics. As a result, American milling practice has become highly
specialized, with the object in each case being to perform a specific operation with the
highest possible efficiency. In European mills it has been necessary to sacritice some
operating efficiency in favour of flexibility of operation. This accounts for the greater use
in Europe of cage-type as opposed to open-type batch presses; and for the employment of
multistage continuous pressing, as compared to single-stage high-pressure pressing in
America.
Table 1.
Average yield of oil from commercial processing of common oil seeds (Percent oil from
seed of normal moisture content)a
The average yields of oil obtainable by commercial extraction methods from a number of
common oil seeds are summarized in Table 1. Certain comparative data on whole seeds
and kernels are found in Table 2. For information on yields from fruit pulps and animal
sources, reference should be made to the specific fats and oils in other portions of this
chapter and in other chapters.
It is probable that the first methods of fat extraction were rendering procedures practiced
by primitive man, following cooking techniques developed for the preparation of meats
for food. The pressing of oil from olive pulp probably antedated the pressing of oil seeds,
although seeds were processed by the Chinese and others at an early date using
mechanical presses operated by wedges or levers. On the other hand, the more efficient
hydraulic operation of mechanical presses was not adopted until early in the nineteenth
century. The continuous screw press is a modern development, and the solvent extraction
of oil seeds on a large scale was not a reality until after World War I.
*Soyabeans are now being dehulled at many mills so as to produce a 50% protein
soybean meal especially suitable where low fiber content is important in a feed.
The residues from the processing of oil seeds or animal tissues for fat are generally high
in protein content and are in good demand as animal feedstuffs. They have a limited use
as a source of human food (soybean or cottonseed flour), or as a source of industrial
proteins (for example, for making glues). The residues from castor beans and tung nuts
are toxic unless specially treated; hence they are used only as fertilizer, etc.
Mechanical Pretreatment
PREPARATION OF ANIMAL MATERIAL
Fatty animal materials, as compared with oil seeds and other vegetable materials, require
comparatively little preparation prior to the rendering operation. Fatty stock destined for
the production of neutral, low-temperature-rendered fats, such as oleo stock or neutral
lard, is carefully trimmed and washed before it is charged to the rendering units. Ordinary
stock, such as that used in making prime steam lard, is always washed and is less
carefully trimmed.
In the larger establishments the stock to be rendered is sorted into different classes of
material, partly to avoid mixing high-quality materials with those of low quality, and
partly because some stocks, such as those containing large bones, require more severe
rendering than others.
In either dry rendering or steam rendering, separation of the fat is more rapid if the fatty
stock is first cut into small pieces, although this operation is ordinarily omitted in steam
rendering. Prolonged wet rendering under pressure will disintegrate even large bones or
whole carcasses, so that the preparation of stock for this process is not critical.
Rotary hashers, similar in principle to ordinary household food choppers, are used for the
reduction of stock which is free from bones. The degree of reduction is usually much
coarser than that employed in the processing of oil seeds; the dimensions of the hashed
pieces may be measured in large fractions of inches or even in inches. Most animal
materials disintegrate quite readily. Whale blubber is particularly tough and requires
more drastic treatment. Blubber presses, consisting of heavy corrugated rolls, are now in
use. Passage of large chunks of blubber through these rolls reduces them to semi fluid
condition and decreases the rendering time.
Dehulling and Separation of Hulls. Wherever practicable, oil seeds are preferably
decorticated before they are extracted. The hulls of oil-bearing seeds are low in oil
content, usually containing not more than about 1%, although contamination with kernels
will, of course, increase the oil content with resultant loss of available oil. If the hulls are
not removed from the seeds before the latter are extracted, they reduce the total yield of
oil by absorbing and retaining oil in the press cake and, in addition, reduce the capacity of
the extraction equipment.
The hulling machines used for the decortication of medium-sized oil seeds with a flexible
seed coat, such as cottonseed, peanuts, and sunflowerseed, are of two principal types: bar
hullers and disk hullers.
The rotating member of a bar huller is a cylinder equipped on its outer surface with a
number of slightly projecting, longitudinally placed, sharply ground, square-edged knives
or "bars." Opposed to the cylinder over an area corresponding to about one-third of its
surface is a concave member provided with similar projecting bars. The seeds are fed
between the rotating cylinder and the concave member, and the hulls are split as the seeds
are caught, between the opposed cutting edges. The clearance between the cutting edges
may be adjusted for seeds of different sizes.
The disk huller is more or less similar in principle to the bar huller except that the cutting
edges consist of grooves cut radially in the surfaces of two opposed and vertically
mounted disks, one of which is stationary and the other rotating. The seeds are fed to the
center of the disks and are discharged at their periphery by centrifugal force. With either
type of huller the condition of the seed is somewhat critical. Wet seed are difficult to split
cleanly and may clog the huller, particularly if it is of the disk type. On the other hand, if
the seeds are very dry, the kernels may disintegrate excessively.
Different seeds very considerably in the readiness with which they fall out of the split
hulls. Peanuts, for example, are loose in the shell and separate readily. Cottonseed kernels
or "meats : are more adherent to the hull; consequently, the hulls are customarily passed
through a hull beater to detach small meat particles after the first separation of hulls and
meats by screening. The separation systems used for cottonseed, peanuts, etc., consist of
various combinations of vibrating screens and pneumatic lifts. It is necessary not only to
separate the hulls from the meats but also to separate and recycle a certain proportion of
uncut seeds which escape the action of the huller. In the case of cottonseed the following
separations are commonly carried out: (a) separation of large meat particles from hulls
and uncut seed screening: (b) separation of hulls from uncut seed by an air lift:
(c)separation of small meat particles from hulls by beating and screening; and (d)
separation of hull particles from meats by air.
In practical mill operation, especially on cottonseeds, the greatest yield of oil is obtained
by nicely balancing the degree of separation attained. If an attempt is made to separate
hulls from the meats too cleanly, there will be a loss of oil due to meats being carried
over into the hulls. If an excessive proportion of hulls is left in the kernels, there will
likewise be an undue loss of oils from absorption by the hulls. Under certain condition,
there may be an appreciable loss of oil due to absorption by the hulls. Under certain
condition, there may be an appreciable loss of oil due to absorption by the hulls an the
latter come into contact with the oily meat particles during the separation operation. It is
generally advisable to effect the separation of kernels and hulls as quickly as possible
after the seeds are hulled, in order to avoid excessive contact between hulls and kernels or
kenel particles.
Cottonseed are invariable delivered to the mills from the gins without removal of their
coating of short fibers or linters, and must be delinted before they are hulled. Delintering
machines (known as "linter") are similar in principle and appearance to cotton gins,
consisting essentially of a revolving assembly of closely spaced circular saws which pick
the lint from the seed. The fibers are removed from the saw teeth by a revolving
cylindrical brush or by an air blast that suspends them in an air stream in which they are
conveyed through pipes to collection equipment. The lint is not ordinary removed from
the seed in a single operation but is taken off in two or three cuts. Each successive cut is
of lower grade than the cut preceding it since increasing quantities of hull material are
removed by the saws as delinting proceeds and fiber length is decreased.
Previously soybeans were seldom decorticated before processing for oil (except where
the meal was destined for human consumption) because of mechanical difficulties and
because the hull constitutes but a small part of the seed and is relatively nonabsorbent.
Today, dehulling is increasingly common. It is usually accomplished by first cracking the
beans on cracking rolls and then separating the hulls from the kernels in two stages :
Hulls are secreened from kernels and uncracked beans and aspirated at the end of the top
deck of a double-deck shaking screen. Uncracked beans are returned to the cracking rolls
while the kernels are put on a second deck of finer mesh screen at the end of which hulls
are again aspirated. Fines are joined to the whole kernel flow.
Hulls which have been aspirated contain some kernel particles. Therefore, these are
subjected to an air separation using a gravity table to separate the light hulls from the
heavier kernels. Depending on the degree of separation required, a "middling" fraction
may be taken and this broken down on another gravity table.
A somewhat different system makes use of simultaneous grinding and aspiration to
dehull the beans and separate the hulls. In general, the choice of system, depends on the
processor, who may use many modifications of general techniques for his purposes.
Small oil seeds, such as flaxseed, perilla, rapeseed, and sesame, are usually processed
without decoration. In some cases it would be desirable to hull the small seeds if this
could be done economically; but so far the process has been considered impracticable.
Owen has reported a series of experiments in the dry decortication of flaxseed and other
small oil seeds using an experimental machine of unspecified design. He concludes that
hulling of linseed is impracticable because a large portion of the total oil is contained in
the separated hull, but he suggests that it might prove advantageous in the case of certain
other small seeds, for example, hampseed.
The various palm kernels, such as oil palm or Africa palm kernels, babassu kernels, and
cohune kernels, constitute a special class of oil seeds, since they are of relatively large
size and are surrounded by a particularly hard, thick shell. Because of the low cost of
labor in the producing regions, the large size of the nuts, and the refractory nature of the
shells, these nuts are often cracked and the kernels separated by hand. The entire
production of Brazilian babassu kernels, amounting in some seasons to 25,000 tons, has
in the past been separated in this manner.
In Africa, nuts of the oil palm, which are less thick-shelled than most of the American
palm nuts, are apparently hand-cracked to some extent; but on the plantations of
Indonesia and Malaysia they are usually machine-cracked. In one type of machine the
nuts are fed to the center of a rotor provided with curved baffles, along which the nuts are
flung out against a heavy steel housing and broken by impact Another type of machine is
simply a special type of hammer mill. The rotor consists of a frame supporting four heavy
steel paddles; the nuts are dropped into the path of the paddles and cracked by impact.
After the nuts are cracked they are dropped to rotary screens where some separation of
kernels and shells is obtained. A considerable proportion of shell fragment, however,
cannot be separated by screening. Owing to the high density of the shells, air separation
like that used on cottonseed and peanuts, etc., is likewise ineffective in producing a
further separation. Here are two methods in vogue for separating palm kernels from shell
fragments of a size comparable to that of the kernels. The dry method takes advantage of
the fact that the kernels are founded and roll easily, whereas the pieces of shell are flat
and sharp edged, and hence do not roll as readily on an inclined surface.
Dry separators consist of inclined belts provided with sharp projections which move
continuously upward. When a mixture of kernels and seeds is fed onto the surface of the
belt the kernels roll down the belt and are collected at the lower end, whereas the
fragments of shell are caught on the projections and carried over the top of the belt into a
separate bin. Means must be provided for recycling of material after both the cracking
and separating operations, since neither cracking nor separation is complete after one
passage of the material through the machines.
The alternative method of separation consists of floating the kernels from the more dense
shells in brine solution. This method has the advantage of producing a clean separation of
kernels and shells, but the separated kernels must be dried before they can be stored or
shipped.
The American palm nuts of the Attalea family, including the babassu and cohune, are
excessively thick-shelled and extremely difficult to decorticate by machinery. The
babassu is particularly troublesome because it contains several kernels, each of which is
enclosed in a separate cavity within the shell. Whereas the splitting of an oil palm nut or
most cohune nuts along a single plane of cleavage will usually free the kernel, the similar
splitting of a babassu nut may not release a single one of its four to eight kernels.
Recently, a number of different machines have been devised for cracking American palm
nuts. The machines designed for round nuts of the coyol type have either been of the
centrifugal or hammer-mill design or have utilized the positive action of mechanically or
hydraulically operated hammers striking against the nut as it is confined against a
stationary anvil member. Some of the machines designed for cohune or babassu nuts
employ chisel-like cutting edges which split the nut into a number of segments, like those
of an orange. Other machines for cohune and babassu nuts employ the hammer-mill
principle. These machines break up the kernal rather badly, and thorogh drying of the
kernels is relied upon to inhibit excessive enzyme action in the broken kernels during
shipment.
In the case of any variety of palm nut, adequate drying of the nuts prior to cracking is
mandatory to ensure that the kernel will not adhere to the shell. Green or undried kernels
fill the shell cavity tightly and adhere very strongly. In Malaysia the general custom is
said to be to expose oil palm kernels to the air in layers 4 to 5 feet deep in roofed sheds
equipped with concrete floors. A month's drying under these conditions suffices for
reasonably good cracking and separation, and 6 week's drying ensures good separation.
Some factories use steam-heated drying rooms in which the nuts, contained on wire trays,
are adequately dried in 3 days. Another effective drying method is to treat the nuts with
live steam in a revolving drum for 1 to 2 hours, after which they are air-dried for a few
hours. Because of their thicker shells, American palm nuts, such as the cohune and the
babassu, would be expected to dry more slowly. Aside from the fact that it is necessary
for efficient decortication, thorough drying of the nuts will, of course, minimize the
danger of deterioration in the kernels from enzyme action.
Reduction of Oil Seeds. The extraction of oil from oil seeds, either by mechanical
expression or by means of solvents, is facilitated by reduction of the seed to small
particles.
Opinion is divided as to whether the grinding or rolling of oil seeds actually disrupts a
large proportion of the oil-bearing cells. The assumption of extensive cell breakage has in
the pas been based chiefly upon the fact that seed flakes yield a large fraction of "easily
extractable" oil upon treatment with solvents, and a smaller fraction (usually 10-30%) of
oil that is extracted with much greater difficulty. The former fraction was presumed to
come from broken cells. It has been shown, however, that seeds (soybeans) that are
cracked rather than rolled, with a minimum of crushing, likewise yield a large fraction of
oil that is easily washed out with solvents. Further more, Woolrich and carpenter could
observe little disruption of cells in rolled cottonseed flakes examined under the
microscope.
As an argument against extensive cell destruction they pointed out that the cells of
conttonseed are only 0.001-0.0015 inch in diameter, whereas the thickness of rolled
cottonseed particles is not less than 0.005 inch. On the other hand, Shchepkina's rather
high estimates of the proportion or broken cells were made from a count of free aleurone
grains in flake samples.
In any event, it appears that many oil cells remain intact after even the most careful
reduction, and that the walls of these cells are made permeable to the oil only by the
action of heat and moisture in the cooking operation. However, the cell walls will be
more readily acted upon by heat and moisture if the seed particles are small.
Obviously, rolling seed or seed particles into thin flakes will facilitate solvent extraction
both from the disruptive effect of rolling and by reducing the distances that solvent and
oil must diffuse in and out of the seed during the extraction process. Early work indicated
that the rate-controlling factor in the solvent extraction of seed flakes was probably the
internal resistance of the flakes to the molecular diffusion of solvent and oil.
Hammer mills attrition mills, and other devices are sometimes used for the preliminary
reduction of large oil seeds, such as copra and palm or babassu kernels; but for the final
reduction it is the almost invariable practice in the United States to use milling rolls.
These are generally considered to be more economical to operate than other types of mill.
Also, thin flakes to which oil seeds are reduced by smooth rolls are more satisfactory for
hydraulic pressing than the irregularly shaped particles obtained by grinding. Flaking
rolls are essential for preparing oil seeds for continous solvent extraction since no other
form of mill is capable of forming particles which are thin enough to extract readily yet
large enough and coherent enough to form a mass through which the solvent will freely
flow.
A roll assembly commonly used for the reduction of cottonseed, flaxseed, and peanuts in
the mills of the southern United States consists of a series of five rolls placed one above
the other. The seed is introduced by a feeding mechanism between the two top rolls. It
passes back and forth between adjoining pairs of rolls as it travels from the top to the
bottom of the assembly; hence it is rolled four times. Each roll supports the weight of all
the rolls above it, so that the seed particles are subjected to progressively increasing
pressure as they pass from one pair of rolls to another. Although the lower rolls are
smoothy, the top roll is commonly corrugated to insure that the seed will be "nipped" as
fast as they are fed to it. A popular five-high roll assembly consists of four upper rolls
each 14 inches in diameter by 48 inches in width, and a bottom roll 16 inches by 48
inches in size, operating at a peripheral speed of about 630 ft./min. This unit has a rated
capacity of 80 short tons of cottonseed or 300 bushels of flaxseed in 24 hours. However,
the actual capacity in any case depends upon the flake thickness that is obtained. Detailed
data on the capacity and efficiency of cottonseed flaking rolls have been published.
Cottonseeds are usually rolled to a thickness of between 0.0005 and 0.010 inch where
mechanical pressing is to be used. With solvent, flake thickness is seldom under 0.008 to
0.010 inch. The repeated passage of the material through the rolls results in considerable
breaking up of the individual flakes but this is not particularly disadvantageous in the
case of seed which are to be mechanically expressed. Small oil seeds, such as flaxseed
and sesame, are usually rolled in preparation for expression.
In the preparation of oil seeds for expression in expellers* or screw presses, the
production of thin particles is not essential as for hydraulic pressing since heat is
generated and seed particles are broken up by the intense shearing stresses developed in
the barrel of the expeller. Soybeans to be processed in expellers are usually cracked by
corrugated cracking rolls into particles averaging 10 to 16 mesh in size and are then
expressed without rolling or further reduction. Plam kernels, copra, peanuts, etc., are
handled in expeller plants both with and without rolling. Cottonseed are usually rolled
before expeller processing.
The rolls used for flaking soybeans or other oil seeds for solvent extraction are normally
somewhat different in design from those described above. Since large, coherent flakes are
desired, the flaking operation is commonly carried out by a singly passage of the whole
or cracked seeds through the rolls. Therefore only one pair of rolls is provided; the rolls
are mounted side by side rather than being superimposed and are equipped with heavy
springs to maintain the pressure of one roll against the other. Since the clearance between
rolls of this type is adjustable, flakes of quite uniform thickness are produced.
A reasonable high moisture content is required in oil seeds which are to be formed into
thin, coherent flakes. Very dry seeds do not flake well. For solvent extraction, cracked
soybeans are adjusted to a moisture content of 10-11% and flaked while still; hot and
slightly plastic, that is, while at a temperature of 160-170° F. In some cases the cracked
beans are steamed for a short time prior to flaking.
In the case of either rendering of cooing, the principal object of the heat treatment is the
same; that is, to coagulate the proteins in the walls of the fat-containing cells and make
the walls permeable to the flow of oil. The flow of oil from the oil-bearing material is
also assisted by the lowered viscosity of the oil at elevated temperatures. Since oil-
containing materials are never completely dry, heat treatment is inevitably associated
with various effects due to the presence of moisture, even when water is not added in the
processing operation. Water must be present for the above-mentioned protein coagulation
to take place. Anhydrous proteins do not readily coagulate or exhibit other evidences of
heat denaturation. In some cases water also assists in the displacement of oil from the
surfaces of solid materials through superior physiochemical affinity for the latter.
The product of highest fat content (92-95%) obtained in meat packing establishments is
leaf fat from hogs. The internal fat from cattle used for the manufacture of oleo stock
contains 60-80% fat. A considerable amount of lard and tallow is obtained, however,
from bone stock and other low-fat material, which may; not contain more than 10-15%
fat. Under certain circumstances, whole carcasses of large animals may be rendered for
inedible fat recovery and conversich of the residue to tankage.
Most of the fish oil produced comes from the rendering of whole small oily fished, such
as sardines and herring, which contain 10-20% oil. Whales, however, which give an
average oil yield in the neighborhood of 30,000 pound per animal are trimmed of their
fatty tissues or blubber, which contains about 70% fat and is rendered separately from
bones or flesh.
Methods of rendering are dictated by the nature of the fatty stock, as well as the
characteristics desired in the rendered fat and the rendering equipment available.
Dry Rendering. "Dry" rendering is one of the simpler methods of fat extraction. It is
distinguished from "wet" rendering in that the expulsion of fat is accompanied by
dehydration of the fat and fatty tissues, so that the latter are essentially dry at the end of
the operation. The drying of bacon, to cite a familiar example, is essentially a dry-
rendering process.
Dry rendering is normally carried out in horizontal steam-jacketed tanks with a large
charging opening in the center of the tip and an agitator. The agitator has paddles
attached by arms to a horizontal shaft. After the charge (5,000 to 10,000 pounds) is dried
to the desired moisture level, the contents are discharged into a steel box equipped with a
perforated liner and all possible free liquid drained off. The residue is pressed, and the fat
obtained is combined with the drained fat. After settling, centrifuging, or filtering, it is
ready for market. The residue is ground as a protein supplement for animal and poultry
feed.
Dry rendering is preferred for inedible products where flavor and odor are secondary and
the production of large quantities of high quality residue is important.
Wet Rendering. Wet rendering is used for edible products where color, flavor, and
keeping qualities are of prime importance and the relative percentage of residue is mall. It
is carried out in the presence of a large amount of water. Separated fat was formerly
removed by skimming, but centrifugal methods are widespread today. There are two
varieties of wet rendering: low-temperature, which is conduced at temperatures up to the
boiling point of water, and high-temperature or steam rendering, which is carried out
under pressure in closed vessels.
Most of the animal fat produced in the United States is rendered by the steam process.
The lard produced by this method of rendering is known as "prime steam lard". In
addition to lard, tallow and whale oil are also usually steam rendered.
The apparatus used in United States packing houses is a vertical cylindrical steel
autoclave or digester with a cone bottom, designed for a steam pressure of 40 to 60
pounds per square inch and a correspondingly high temperature. The vessel is filled with
the fatty material plus a small amount of water, and steam is admitted to boil the water
and displace the air. The vessel is then closed except for a small vent, and the injection of
steam is continued until the operating temperature and pressure are attained; then
digestion is continued for a variable time depending upon the temperature and also the
nature of the charge. The usual digestion time is 4 to 6 hours. Under the influence of the
high temperature employed, the fatty materials in the digester disintegrate to some extent;
there is very efficient separation of the fat, which rises to the top of the vessel, leaving a
layer of solids (tankage), and "stick water" in the bottom. Pressure is then slowely
relieved, and the fat-water interface is adjusted to the level of a draw-off cock on the side
of the vessel. The fat is drawn off and purified from traces of water and solid material by
settling or occasionally by centrifuging. Eventually it may be filtered.
In the steam rendering of high-fat stock, 99.5% or more of the fat in the raw material is
ordinarily recovered. The fat that is not recovered consists of a small residue in the
tankage plus a very small amount which remains in the "stick water". The usual packing
house "killing" and "cutting" fats yield about 80% and 70% lard, respectively, plus 2 to
3% each of dry tankage and dry "stick" or solid residue from the evaporation or "stick
water". The dry tankage and stick will ordinarily contain about 10 to 12% and 1.5% to
2% of fat, respectively. Both are high in protein content; tankage from good stock may
analyze as high as 70 to 72% protein, and stick may be as high as 90% or more.
The advantages of steam rendering are that an efficient recovery of fat is obtained in
relatively simple equipment and that it is adaptable to a wide variety of material. There is
little tendency for proteins, etc., to dissolve or disperse in the fat in the presence of water;
hence the fatty stock may contain a large proportion of nonfatty tissue. Bony stock can be
handled by this process since it is effectively disintegrated by prolonged treatment with
steam under an elevated pressure.
Steam rendering is less rapid and less efficient than dry rendering from the standpoint of
heat consumption, however, and a large amount of water must be evaporated in order to
recover the non-fatty residue in a concentrated from. Some hydrolysis of fat occurs
during steam rendering; the free fatty acids content of prime steam lard is seldom less
than about 0.35%. At 47 pounds pressure development of free fatty acids is at the rate of
about 0.06% per hour. The acidity in any case depends upon the rendering time and
temperature and the storage temperature and duration of storage of the fatty stock before
it is processed. By careful scheduling of operations, killing fats may be rendered
reasonably soon after the animals are slaughtered, but carcasses are chilled to 32-36°F
before cutting fats are available. The stability of lard towards oxidation bears no relation
to the acidity and appears to depend principally upon processing and handling subsequent
to rendering.
One of the major recent developments in rendering has been the discovery that
antioxidants added before rendering greatly enhance the stability of the fat produced.
Sims and Hilfman studied the stabilization of lard and edible beef fats during pressure
steam rendering. Antioxidants tested included butylated hydroxyanisole (BHA), butylated
hydroxytoluene (BHT), propyl gallate and citric acid combinations, and a mixture of
BHA and BHT. Poorer results were obtained with the mixtures in propylene glycol.
There are several modifications of continuous wet rendering operations in which attempts
are made to obtain a better product and a better protein residue than the usual pressure
tank products. These include.
KINGAN PROCESS. This process is based on the release of oil from tissue through
comminution to subcellular dimensions. Raw material is finely ground, pumped through
an appropriate heat exchanger, and reground in a hammer mill, and the fat is then
separated from the protein and waste by a special type of centrifuge.
TITAN EXPULSION SYSTEM. The fat stock is quickly minced and rendered in a
combined mixer-boiler apparatus ("Expulsor"). It is then strained (to remove tissue,
which is subsequently pressed) and the strained emulsion pumped to continuous three-
phase separators where a low-moisture clarified oil is drawn off and separated sludge is
intermittently discharged.
DELAVAL CENTRIFLOW PROCESS. Cell rupture is accomplished by mechanical
disintegration (first minimizing temperature as required) in a specially designed
disintegrator. Then cracklings are removed from the fat mass by a "desludger" centrifuge,
after which the liquid phase is heated, deodorized, and centrifuged to produce purified oil
and glue water.
SHARPLES PROCESS. This is based on the mechanical rupturing of the fat tissue,
followed by two-stage centrifugal separation. A "Super-D-Canter" separated the protein
tissue from the liquid fat and discharges it as a dry meaty solid. A second centrifuge
called an "Autojector Clarifier" removes protein and water from the fat, intermittently
discharging sludge. By suitable low temperature (115 to 120°F.) a non-coagulated protein
material is produced as one of the products, it is claimed, and this product appears to have
possibilities as an edible meat product.
IMPULSE RENDERING. This process is used mainly for preparing and defatting bones
for glue. Fat stock, especially crushed bones, is continuously disintegrated in a high-
speed hammer mill under an excess of flowing cold water. The intense impact sets the fat
free. The discharge from the mill is allowed to settle in a cold water tank from which the
fat is continuously skimmed off. The ground bone is continuously removed from the
bottom and transferred to another tank containing hot waster (70-95°F), where more fat is
separated. It is claimed that better-quality fat and higher protein residue are obtained by
this process.
The production of marine oils is rather similar to animal fat rendering. It varies with the
type of fish processed and whether vitamin A and D oils or high-quality fish meal is the
prime objective. With the synthetic production of vitamins D2 and D3 as well as vitamin
A, the current trend is to fish meal and dissolving the connective tissue.
Deatherage has described in detail laboratory and pilot plant experiments on the alkali
rendering of lard and beef fats. The best results are obtained when the fat is digested at
85-95°C for 45 minutes to an hour with a 1.75% sodium hydroxide solution. After
digestion is complete, the fat is sepatrated from the aqueous liquid, which contains a
small amount of undigested solids, by centriguging, and washed, first with 2-5% salt
solution, and then with water. Fat recovery is equivalent to or better than that obtained by
steam rendering without significant hydrolysis or darkening of the fat or production of
the typical cooked flavor of steam lard. The process is best adapted to reasonably fresh
fat; stocks in which any considerable amount of hydrolysis has occurred are difficult to
process because of the excessive formation of soap in the aqueous phase. Soap is derived
only from free fatty acids in the fat; under the mild conditions of the digestion, there
appears to be no appreciable saponification of neutral fat. The fat is, of course, alkali-
refined as it is rendered; hence it is produced substantially free of acidity. A typical lard
has a free acids content of 0.01% and a Lovibond color of 2 yellow and 0.3 red.
A recent publication reports reduced "fruitiness" and free fatty acids in olive oil from
adding alkaline materials to olive pulp during grinding or working. Also the manufacture
of a good quality olive oil has been claimed by drying olive pomace to 5% moisture,
mixing with soda ash, and extracting with carbon disulfide.
Alkali rendering has been found better than steam, water, or acid digestion for recovering
vitamin A from fish livers with an oil content of 30% and upwards. Partial removal of
antioxidants does not impair the stability of the vitamin.
The oil droplets in a cottonseed or similar oil seed are almost uctramicroscopic in size
and are distributed throughout the seed. One effect of cooking is to cause these very small
droplets to coalesce into drops large enough to flow from the seed. An important factor in
this phase of the process is the heat denaturation of proteins and similar substances.
Before the proteins become coagulated through denaturation, the oil droplets are virtually
in the form of an emulsion. Coagulatio causes the emulsion to break, after which there
remains only the problem of separating gross droplets of oil from the solid material in the
seed. Since the surface of the seed particles is highly extended, surface activity figures
prominently in the displacement of the oil. Cooking, in turn, has a profound influence
upon the surface activity of the material. The primary objects of the cooking process may,
therefore, be summarized as follows : (a) to coagulate the proteins in the seed causing
coalescence of oil droplets and making the seed permeable to the flow of oil; and (b) to
decrease the affinity of the oil for the solid surfaces of the seed so that the best possible
yield of oil may be obtained when the seed are subsequently pressed.
Important secondary effects of cooking are drying of the seeds to give the seed mass the
proper plasticity for efficient pressing insolubilization of phosphatides and possibly other
undesirable impurities, destruction of molds and bacteria, increase of the fluidity of the
oil through increase in temperature, and, in the case of cottonseed, detoxification of
gossypol or related substances.
One factor that obviously effects the affinity between the seed and the oil and is
amenable to control in the cooking operation is the moisture content of the seed. Very dry
seeds cannot be efficiently freed of their oil. However, it is impossible to say just how
moisture inhibits wetting between the seed and the oil. It may be that the cooking process
produces a film of adsorbed liquid water on the seed surfaces which displaces the oil. On
the other hand, the water may be in a more nearly "bound" state, and its presence in the
seed in this condition may serve to make the seed surface relatively lipophobic. The
optimum moisture of cooked seed varies widely according to the variety of the seed and
the method to be used for expression. On cottonseed, for example, 5 to 6% moisture is
best for hydraulic pressing, whereas about 3% is optimum for expellers or screw presses;
this level needs to be closely controlled for best results. At moistures of 4% and higher,
excessive amounts of oil are left in the cake. Soybeans are ordinarily dried to 2½ to 3%
moisture before pressing in expellers; copra and sesame seed require moistures of about
2%.
Many substances in oil seeds are surface active, such as phosphatides and free fatty acids,
and the degree to which they are present or become active during cooking doubtless
influences the tendency of the seed to adsorb and retain oil. It is generally observed that
damaged oil seeds give lower yields of oil than undamaged seeds of equivalent oil
content. The tendency of damaged seed to retain oil tenaciously is probably due to their
high content of free fatty acids or other surface-active agents.
Effect on Quality of Oil and Oil-Cake. In addition to its effect upon the yield of oil, the
method of cooking also markedly determines the quality of both the oil and the oil-cake.
Cooking is particularly important in its relation to the refining loss of the oil. A large part
of the oil lost in caustic refining consists of neutral oil, which is emulsified in the foots.
Certain surface-active agents naturally present in the oil favor this emulsification; others
appear to inhibit it. The relative proportions of the two classes of substances in the oil
depend to a great extent upon the operation of the cooker. There is little published
information on the identity of the surface-active agents in crude oils, but is appears that
the substances. The presence of gossypol in cottonseed oil is generally assumed to
contribute to the production of hard foots and a low refining loss. However, in mill-scale
experiments by Wamble and Haris conducted at five different screw-press mills, it was
concluded that there was no apparent relation between the gossypol content of the crude
oil and the refining loss or refined color.
Normal cooking variations have little effect on oil color or refining loss, although with
widely varying cooking conditions considerable differences are noted. Thus, Eaves
showed that oils prepared by solvent extraction from raw, tempered, or cooked
cottonseed flakes varied in yield of crude oil but that the yield of neutral oil was virtually
unaffected. Crude oil from raw flakes was highest in impurities and lowest in neutral oil,
crude from tempered flakes was lower in impurities and higher in neutral oil, and crude
from cooked flakes was outstandingly low-refining-loss oil. That is, unless oil penalties
are sufficient to counteract any change in crude oil yield, it may be to the processor's
advantage to avoid partially refining the oil during preparation for extraction.
King have studied the effect of pH during cooking of cottonseed on the properties of the
meals and oils. They concluded that oils made from meats cooked at low pH were high in
gossypol and were subject to color reversion during storage, while oil from meats cooked
at high pH levels had a lower refining loss, were low in gossypol, and were not subject to
color reversion on storage.
Overcooking of oil seeds has been recognized as undesirable for some time since it may
produce abnormally dark oil and cake. There is also evidence that prolonged or drastic
cooking tends to be injurious to the nutritive properties of the cake. With cottonseed, for
example, it has been shown that increasing maximum cooker temperature or cooking
time decreases the feed efficiency for chicks and the relative protein efficiency for rats.
Likewise, soybean meal has been shown to lose nutritive value for chicks as heating time
is increased.
On the other hand, the nutritive value of soybean meal is definitely improved by
moderate cooking. This is due to the coincident inactivation of specific heat-labile factors
(trypsin inhibitor, hemagglutinin, saponin, goitrogenic factor, anticoagulant factor,
diuretic principle, and lipoxidase). This subject has been recently summarized by Liener.
The toxic principle, whatever it may be, is contained in the cottonseed pigment glands,
from which it may be extracted by either, acetone, butanol, and other polar solvents.
Hexane and similar non-polar solvents will not extract it from the intact pigment glands,
but if these glands are ruptured by moisture, wet heat, or polar solvent, the liberated
"gossypol" is readily extracted. The toxic principle is quite stable to dry heat.
Lyman and coworkers, who have made a special study of the cooking of cottonseed in
relation to detoxification recommend for hydraulic pressing that meats be brought to a
moisture content of at least 14.5% before cooking, that the cooking period be at least 90
minutes, and that the final temperature be not less than 115°C (239 °F). A review of the
work of many other investigators, however, indicates that for expeller processing the
initial moisture content may be lowered somewhat (to about 12%) and the cooking time
greatly reduced. In this connection it is important to bear in mind that the term "cooking"
usually is used to cover wet cooking plus a drying to moisture levels around 3%.
Actually, these are two distinct processes, as Dunning has pointed out, and after the wet-
cooking step is completed, subsequent drying may be done instantaneously (by flashing)
or very slowly. In normal practice, however, both processes are accomplished in a stack
cooker where these is a rather gradual reduction in moisture content and, thus, a gradual
transition from cooking to drying. Final cooking temperature is thus considerably
dependent upon the amount of venting or aeration of the cooked flakes. For example, a
final cooking temperature is thus considerably dependent upon the amount of venting or
aeration of the cooked flakes. For example, a final cooking temperature of 240°F or
260°F will yield the same final moisture content if adequate venting is used with the
lower temperature.
Cooking for Hydraulic and Continuous Pressing. The cooking of oil seeds is usually
carried out in "stack cooker". These consist of a series of four to eight closed,
superimposed, cylindrical steel kettles each usually 72 to 100 inches in diameter and 1.5
to 2.5 high. Each kettle is normally jacketed for steam heating on the bottom (and
sometimes on the sides), and is equipped with a sweep type stirrer mounted close to the
bottom and operated by a common shaft extending through the entire series of kettles.
There is an automatically operated gate in the bottom of all but the last kettle for
discharging the contents to the kettle below; the bottom kettle feeds into a cake former or
continuous press. The top kettle is provided with spray jets for the addition of moisture to
the seed, and each of the lower kettle is provided with an exhaust pipe with natural or
forced draft for the removal of moisture. Thus it is possible to control the moisture of the
cooking seed, not only with respect to final moisture content, but also at each stage of the
operation.
In practice, the rolled meats are delivered at a constant rate to the top kettle by means of a
conveyor. After a predetermined period of cooking in that kettle, the charge of meats is
automatically dropped to the kettle below so that there is a continuous progression of
meats downward through the cooker. The gates which govern the flow of meats from on
kettle to another are normally opened and closed automatically by a mechanism which
engages the meats at a specific level in each kettle. Thus, the time that the meats charge
remains in each kettle is determined by the meats levels for which the kettles are set. An
85 inch, five-high cooker, a common size, has a rated capacity of about 90 tons of
cottonseed (calculated upon the basis of the whole seed per 24 hours.
Steam pressure on the upper stacks of a stack cooker is usually maintained at a relatively
high value, for example, 70 to 90 pounds per square inch, in order to provide quick
heating. On the lower stacks it is usually reduced somewhat, since there it is only
necessary to maintain the heated meats at cooking temperature. Cottonseed meats are
usually kept in the cooker for 30 to 120 minutes and leave at a temperature of 230-270°F.
Seed of good quality are normally cooked longer than poor seed, which tend to darken on
prolonged cooking. Peanuts are often cooked for a shorter period.
In continuous operation of a stack cooker, material first in is not always first out. This has
been noted by Alderks and can be easily demonstrated by the use of added corn kernels,
salted flakes, dyed flakes, etc. So-called "cooking time" represents an average cooking
time, with some material remaining in the cooker much longer and some material only a
fraction of the average time. However, this does not appear to affect efficient mechanical
pressing adversely.
Oil seeds are usually moistened before cooking, or during the early stages of cooking,
unless they are initially fairly high in moisture, and their moisture content is then reduced
in the cooker. An initial moisture content of 9 to 14% is common in the top kettle of the
cooker. This stays relatively constant in the top two to four kettles where the actual
"cooking" takes place. In the bottom kettles drying is the objective with increased
temperatures and venting commonly employed. The final moisture content depends on
the material processed and on whether cooking is to be followed by hydraulic pressing or
expeller or screw pressing. For the former, 5 to 6% is used for cottonseed; for the latter, a
dryer product, around 3% moisture, is preferred.
Pressure cooking appeared promising at one time and equipment was installed in several
mills. Today, however, this type of cooking is not believed to be in use in any
commercial installation in this country.
Another specialized type of cooking, the Skipin process, was developed in Russia about
twenty-five years ago but has had no acceptance in this country, where quality and
efficiency standards are apparently much higher.
It should be noted that although cooking in a stack cooker has been stressed here, it is
also possible to accomplish the same objective using horizontal jacketed tubes
("conditioners") through which the material is conveyed by suitable means. In general,
these are more commonly used in conjunction with some stack cooking rather than as a
substitute for the latter.
The oldest method of oil extraction comprises the application of pressure to batches of
the oil-bearing material confined in bags, cloths, cages, or other suitable devices.
Levers, wedges, screws, etc., have been used us a means of applying pressure in the more
primitive styles of presses, but modern presses are almost invariably actuated by a
hydraulic system. Thus the term "hydraulic pressing" is often used in reference to batch
pressing in general. There is a limited use of mechanically operated presses for special
purposes where only a relatively light pressure is required, as in the pressing of partially
solidified oleo stock or lard to yield oleo oil or lard oil.
Batch presses may be divided into two main classes: the "open" type, which requires the
oily material to be confined in press cloths; and the "closed" type, which dispenses with
press cloths and confines the material in some species of cage. Open-type presses may be
subdivided into plate presses and box presses, and closed types may be subdivided into
plate pressure and box presses, and closed types may be classified as pot presses or cage
presses.
The completeness with which the oil is recovered by mechanical expression is influenced
by a number of factors related to the affinity of the oil for solid material in the seed.
These include the moisture content, the method of cooking, and the chemical composition
of the seed, damaged seed generally retain oil more tenaciously than seed of good quality.
With a given lot of seed, cooked and ready for pressing, the oil yield will depend upon
the rate at which pressure is applied, the maximum pressure attained, the time allowed for
oil drainage at full pressure, and the temperature or the viscosity of the oil.
Attempts have been made to establish a correlation between oil recovery from different
seeds and such factors as pressure, pressing time, and temperature or viscosity. Koo and
Baskerville et al. proposed empirical equations designed to permit a calculation of the
fraction of oil extracted from seed from data on the pressing time, pressure on the cake,
viscosity of the oil, etc. all other factors being assumed constant. Later work, however,
indicated that factors are involved, all of which are not mutually independent, so that it
may not be possible to develop single equation which will correlate all the processing
variables.
Hickox has summarized four years of work in this connection at the Engineering
Experiment Station of the University of Tennessee, Including data from some millscale
tests. He concludes that for hydraulic pressing of cottonseed:
The hull content of meats to be pressed should be kept as low as possible since increased
hulls lower extraction efficiency and press capacity;
Pressure should be applied slowly at first, more slowly than is customary;
The total pressure on the cake need not be increased over 2000 pound per square inch
unless the final cake thickness is over 1 inch. For thin cakes, increasing the pressure had
no effect on the residual oil;
The cake should be kept as thin as economical considerations and throughout of the mill
will permit.
The moisture content of the cake should be controlled carefully (that is, wihin a few
tenths of 1%) in order to obtain minimum residual oil;
Since the top and bottom cakes in the press are cooler than the middle cakes, it is
desirable to raise their temperature by appropriate means in order to obtain maximum
extraction efficiency; and
Preferably, pressing should be carried out at temperature of 205°F, about 30° higher than
typical mill operation.
Open-Type Presses. The frame of an open or Anglo-American press consists of four
heavy, vertical steel columns fastened at the top and bottom to heavy end blocks. Within
the open cage formed by the columns, and suspended from the top of the press, are a
series of horizontal steel plates. These plates closely fill the space enclosed by the
columns. They are equally spaced at intervals the entire assembly to become compressed
in the pressing operation. Below the plate assembly and attached to a ram operated from
below is a heavier bottom plate. The material to be pressed is formed into rectangular
cakes which are placed between the various suspended plates. Raising the ram
compresses the series of cakes and causes the oil to fall into a drip pan resting upon the
bottom block. The stress created by the application of pressure is directed against the top
block and is transland into longitudinal stress upon the four columns.
In ordinary plate presses the oil seed flakes are completely wrapped in press cloths and
placed between the plates without the use of accessory devices to restrain the cake mass
as it is pressed. The surfaces of the plates, however, are usually either corrugated or
covered with hair mats to assist in the drainage of the oil and to overcome cake cree page.
Box presses are provided with a special boxlike arrangement which encloses the cake on
its two long sides and simplifies the wrapping of the cake. The complete press box
includes a corrugated drainage rack, a perforated and corrugated steel drainage mat which
rests upon the drainage rack and underneath the cake, and steel "angles" which project
from the underside of each plate to from the sides of the box enclosing the cake below.
With this arrangement, if is only necessary for the press cloth to enclose the cake on the
top, bottom, and ends. Thus folding of the press cloth in two directions is avoided, and
very heavy, durable cloths may be used. Standard size press boxes are about 2 inches
deep, 35 inches long, 14 inches wide at the back, and 14 inches wide at the front, being
slightly widened from back to front to facilitate insertion and removal of the cake.
Presses are usually constructed with either 15 or 16 boxes. Plate presses of an equivalent
size have 24 plates and hence have a greater capacity than box presses.
Presses similar to those described above are generally provided with a 16-inch ram
operating at a pressure of 4000 to 4500 pounds per square inch; hence to pressure on the
cake is between 1650 and 1850 pounds per square inch. It is important to build up
pressure upon the cakes gradually. In order to conduct the initial state of compression
more rapidly than the later stages, the hydraulic system operating the presses is provided
with automatic valves which delivers oil at 500 pounds pressure to the ram until an
equivalent pressure is built up on the cake, and thereafter delivers the maximum pressure
of about 4000 pounds. The time allowed for drainage of the oil after the maximum
pressure is reached is somewhat variable among deferent mill operators. However, a
typical press cycle is as follows: for charging the press, 2 minutes; for attaining
maximum pressure, 6 minutes; drainage time, 26 minutes; for discharging the press, 2
minutes; total, 26 minutes. The capacity of a 15-box press operated under these
conditions is approximately 11 short tons of whole cottonseed or whole peanuts per 24
hours.
According to Baskerville and Wamble the average press cycle in mills processing
cottonseed in the Unites States is probably 30 minutes or less; their calculations indicate
that the economically optimum cycle is approximately 50% longer.
An essential accessory to the operation of either plate or box presses is a cake former for
automatically delivering a proper quantity of flakes from the cooker and forming the
flakes into a cake of the proper size and shape within the press cloth. Cake formers are
designed to press the flakes into a coherent mass without the application of sufficient
pressure to start the oil from them. They are hydraulically operated. Mechanically
operated cake strippers are also provided for removing the somewhat adherent press
clothes from the spent press cake. Charging and discharging the presses is carried out
entirely by hand, however. An operator is also required for both the cake former and the
cake stripper, as neither is fully automatic.
The edges of the cake coming from an open-type press are soft and higher in oil content
than the remainder of the cake. Consequently, it is the usual practice to slice or beat off
these edges in a mechanical cake trimmer and rework the trimmings through the presses.
Plate presses are usually preferred for flaxseed, whereas box presses are standard
equipment in cottonseed or peanut mills. The press cloths used with box presses are
woven from human hair, camels; hair, or nylon. A wide variety of materials are used for
the cloths used in plate presses, including cotton, wool, and hair.
Closed-Type Presses. Cage presses confine the oil-containing materials within a strong
perforated steel cage during the pressing operation, and thus largely dispense with the use
for press cloths. They may be operated at higher pressures than are practicable with open
presses. They are particularly suitable for the expression of copra, palm kernels, and other
oil seeds which are high in oil content and low in fiber and hence are inclined to flow and
burst the press cloths of open presses. Castor beans or other seeds which it is desired to
process without heat treatment can be pressed satisfactorily only in presses of this type as
very high pressures are required to extract the oil efficiently from cold seeds. They are
desirable for mills that process many varieties of oil seeds because they can be used on
practically any oil seed or other oily material.
Cages for this type of press are built in both round and square forms. They are usually
made up from a number of closely spaced steel bars or slotted steel plates, supported
inside a heavy frame or ringed with heavy steel bands. The channels through which the
oil escapes increase in size from the interior of the cage outward to minimum any
tendency for them, to become clogged with solid particles. The cages are operated in a
vertical position in a frame similar to that of the Anglo-American press. Oil is expressed
from the charge by forcing a closely fitting head up into the cage from below by means of
a hydraulically operated ram. The upper end of the cage may be closed solidly; then
pressure is allied only to one end of the charge. Alternately, the cage may float between
the lower ram and an opposed head entering from above. In the latter case, pressure is
applied to both ends of the seed mass. Cage presses are designed to attain pressures of
6000 pounds per square inch or more.
Since there is a marked tendency for the oil flow in the compressed cake to be
longitudinal rather than radial, the cage cannot be packed solidly with the oil seed but
must be charged with layers of seed separated by drainage plates and press cloths.
Auxiliary equipment is required for filling the cages and discharging the cake. This, and
the rather elaborate and heavy design of the cages, makes the initial cost of this type of
pressing equipment relatively high. In large installations the cages are usually made
removable from the presses, and filling and discharging presses are provided, in addition
to a number of finishing presses. A cage carriage is provided for transferring the heavy
cages from one press to another.
The pot press is a special form of cage press used for the extraction of cocoa butter or
other fats which are solid at ordinary room temperature. In this press the cage is replaced
by a series of short, superimposed, steam-heated cylinder sections or "pots". The walls of
the pots are solid, and drainage takes place through perforated plated and filter mats in
the bottom of each section. Pot presses are usually designed for pressures intermediate
between those employed in open presses and cage presses, although they can be built for
virtually any desired pressure. The advantages of pot presses are that they can be heated
and that they can handle very soft, non-fibreus material, such as fruit pulp, at high
pressures without forcing large quantities of solid material into the oil. Their capacity is
small, however, in relation to their size and cost, and they require more hand labor to
operate than other types of press.
Some oil seeds of high oil content, such as copra, are difficult to express satisfactorily in
batch equipment by a singly pressing. In some places it is customary to break up the oil
cake derived from the first pressing and subject it a second pressing with or without
intervening moisture or heat treatment for the recovery of residual oil. Such practice, of
course, requires a double reduction of the seed and also yields an oil of inferior quality
from the second pressing. In American practice, the double pressing of oil seed is
generally considered obsolete. Oil seeds that cannot be reduced to a low oil content by a
singly pressing in hydraulic presses are preferably processed in continuous screw presses
or expellers.
CONTINUOUS PRESSING
Continuous expellers or screw presses are now used to the almost complete exclusion of
hydraulic presses for the mechanical extraction of soybeans and flaxseed in this country
and are of major importance for cottonseeds and peanuts. They are also used extensively
throughout the world for the expression of copra, palm kernels, peanuts, cottonseed,
flaxseed, and almost every variety of oil seed.
The continuous presses used on oil seeds in the United States are mostly high pressure
machines designed to effect oil recovery in one step. They are usually modified to suit a
particular material. In Europe various oil seeds are ordinarily handled by the same
equipment, and it is common practice to press the seeds in two or even three stages at
increasingly higher pressure in each state. The low-pressure presses are also often used
for "prepressing" prior to solvent extraction.
Continous presses effect a large saving in common labor over hydraulic systems and
completely eliminate the need for press cloth. They are adaptable to a wide variety of
materials, and in most cases they produce a much higher yield of oil. Their principal
disadvantages are that power requirements are relatively high, they require fairly well-
skilled labor for both operation and maintenance and they are not well adapted to
intermittent operation.
The first successful mechanical screw press, called an "expeller" (Model No. 1), was
made by V.D. Anderson in 1900. I was soon used to express the oil from flaxseed and
whole cottonseed. About 1910 the Krupp Works was licensed to manufacture these
machines in Germany, where they were used primarily as a for press unit ahead of
hydraulic presses. In the United States interest was gimarily in expressing as much oil as
possible from seed in the operation, so improvements were made resulting in an "RB"
(roll bearing) expeller in 1926 and later the "duo" and "Super Duo" types. In 1933 a
"screw press" was introduced by the Bench Oil Machinery Company. Today these two
companies are the leading manufacturers of continuous screw press in this country.
The Anderson machines (expellers) utilize a vertical cage to express the most easily
removable oil, followed by a horizontal cage for attainment of the high pressure
necessary for removal of most of the remaining oil. The French "screw presses" use only
a horizontal cage where pressure is gradually built up to a maximum. Another point of
difference in machines of the two manufactures is in the method for cooling. Expellers
are cooled by product oil, after removal of "foots" in a screening tank and cooling in heat
exchangers to reduce the temperature to approximately 120°F. Screw presses, on the
other hand, are equipped with ;water-cooled shafts and water-cooled ribs in the bar cages.
Originally, expellers operated on flaked raw materials which were cooked in a horizontal
cooker while screw presses employed the stack cooker used for hydraulic pressing.
Currently, stack cookers are commonly used with either type of machine, sometimes with
preliminary cooking in a horizontal cooker. The trend in the newer installations is to use
one large cooker to feed two or more presses.
In both types of machine the pressure necessary to force the oil our of the cooked flakes
is obtained by means of continuously rotating worm shafts and worms, with a choke
mechanism by means of which cake thickness is controlled. The main worm shaft and
worms and designed to exert a pressure of 5 to 15 tons per square inch on the seed being
processed and at the same time to convey the seed through and out of the pressure
chamber. Several different worm shafts may be employed, depending upon the ; material
to be processed and whether or not expression is to be complete or merely pre-pressing
preliminary to later solvent extraction.
The drainage barrel is made up of rectangular bars which fit into a heavy barrel bar
frame. The individual bars in the drainage barrel are separated by bar spacing clips, the
specific spacings depending upon the type and preparation of the material being
processed. For example, in an expeller processing cottonseed, the spacing of bars in the
main barrel may be 0.010 inch in the feed section, 0.0075 in the center section, and 0.010
in the discharge section. The same sections processing copra may have bar spacings of
0.030, 0.020, and 0.010 inch. The spacing of the bars not only permits the drainage of oil
from the material being processed but also acts as a coarse filter medium for the solids.
Within the last few years extraction efficiency with expellers and screw presses has
materially improved as a result of machine improvements. The French screw press
modifications began with a 9-inch extension of the shaft and cage, soon increasing this to
as 11-inch extension, and finally to a 22 inch water-cooled extension. This resulted in
lowering oil in meal about 1% without loss in capacity. Anderson expellers, on the other
hand, were modified in the vertical section and the horizontal section was increased in
length (from 33 to 55 inches), resulting in comparable extraction improvement.
Cottonseed cake containing 3 to 3½ % oil is not uncommon now as a result of these new
development sin expellers and screw presses.
With adequate preparation and cooking of raw material to be processed, the capacity of
an expeller or screw press is a function of the shaft arrangement and the shaft speed. For
example, the meats from 25 to 100 tons of cottonseed per day can be expressed leaving
cakes containing 3.0 to 9% oil, depending upon the shaft speed and worm arrangement.
Moreover, as a rule, no loss in extraction efficiency is experienced in going from the old
capacity of about 20 to 25 tons of cottonseed per day to the much higher rate of 45 to 50
tons.
Despite the use of special alloys and manufacturing techniques designed to make expeller
parts as hard as possible, shafts do wear with usage and tonnage normally drops. Some
modern machines are manufactured with provisions for rapid gear change, making it
possible to increase the revolutions per minute and the tonnage with only a very short
down time. New or newly built-up shafts may be expected to process the meats from
about 1 ton of cottonseed per minute with high efficiency. Where only a pre-pressing
action is desired, 100 tons per day can be obtained with approximately 45 r.p.m.
Tonnage may also be increased without loss in efficiency by having a minimum amount
of hulls in the expeller feed. Since the expeller appears to handle a certain volume of
feed, removal of hulls makes it possible to increase capacity by removing essentially non-
extractable material from the feed. This also minimizes wear from the highly abrasive
hulls. This increased tonnage with high efficiency naturally increases the power
requirements with motor horse powers up to 125 now being used as compared to 40 to 60
of a few years ago. Suitably strengthened gear boxes, etc., are also required. With the
high capacity and efficiency thus possible, coupled with lower installed equipment cost
as compared to solvent extraction, expeller operations compare favorably in many cases
with the more efficient solvent extraction.
In addition to the general literature references on the continuous pressing of oil seeds,
there are also references dealing specifically with screw presses expellers, and product
quality.
LOW-PRESSURE PRESSING
For the pre-pressing of oil prior to extraction, ordinary high-pressure screw presses may
be operated at low pressure and at increased capacity. Specially designed machines are
much more satisfactory, however, in new installations these are normally used.
In this country, most of the plants solvent-extracting cottonseed do so via the prepress
route. At first this was probably the result of problems in handling "fines" and difficulties
in detoxifying the extracted flakes when direct extraction was used. Other advantages of
pre-pressing include the need for only a minimum-size solvent plant, since most of the oil
is removed in the pre-pressing step, and the production of meal of high protein quality.
Disadvantages are high initial equipment costs if, for example, soybeans must also be
processed in equivalent tonnage in the same plant and, normally, higher power
requirements and repairs.
Expellers and screw presses of the same design as those used for oil seeds are sometimes
used for pressing whale or seal flesh or fish, and for processing meat scraps, but these
materials are more commonly handled in screw presses specially designed for the
purpose. These are generally of lighter construction than the machines built for oil seed
extraction and are operated under low pressure.
CENTRIFUGAL EXPRESSION
The removal of oil from an oil-Bearing material by centrifugation has been a standard
method only in the case of palm fruit. However, recent developments in the rendering of
animal fats make full use of centrifugal separation of oil. The centrifugal recovery of
palm oil will be discussed in a later Part of this chapter.
Solvent Extraction
APPLICATION
While extraction with solvents constitutes the most efficient method for the recovery of
oil from any oil-bearing material, it is relatively the most advantageous in the processing
of seeds or other material low in oil. The minimum oil content to which oil cake can be
reduced by mechanical expression is approximately the same for all oil seeds, that is,
about 2 to 3%. Consequently, the oil unrecoverable by mechanical expression, in terms of
percentage of the total oil, increases progressively as the oil content of the seed decreases.
Comparative yields of oil from representative seeds of low, medium, and high oil content
by the two methods or processing are shown in Table 15.4. Substitution of solvent
extraction for pressing methods increases the yield of oil from soybeans by 12.1%, where
as in the processing of cottonseed the increase in 11.5% and in the case of flaxseed only
5.3%. These figures, it should be noted, are industry-wide averages. The increase of oil
yield for soybeans and cottonseed by solvent extraction over the most efficient
mechanical processing today is appreciably less.
Cottonseed flakes disintegrate more readily and occasion more trouble from the
production of fines, whereas peanuts and flaxseed disintegrate very badly. By "pressing"
or "forepressing" the seed in low-pressure screw presses to remove a portion of the oil it
is possible subsequently to solvent-extract high-oil-content seeds that are difficult or
impossible to handle in their original from in conventional equipment. In Europe and
where European practices have prevailed, it is the general practice to extract whole
soybeans nut to prepress other oil seeds. In the United States pre-pressing is used
commercially on cottonseed, flaxseed, peanuts, and corn germ.
Solvent extraction finds some use in the recovery of animal fats. The tankage or
cracklings from dry rendering are often solvent extracted, usually in batch extractors. The
recovery of fat from garbage is frequently carried out by means of solvent extraction
since the low fat content of this material makes of the methods of recovery difficult.
Garbage is extracted in batch equipment of special design.
Materials containing scarce of expensive oil are often solvent extracted even when the
operation is relatively difficult. Examples are castor oil, olive oil, and wheat germ oil
residues from mechanical pressing. Solvent extraction may be used to itstain a fat free
residue or a residue in which proteins are not heat denatured rather than for the primary
purpose of improving the yield of oil. Thus, for example, cocoa is solvent extracted in
order to produce a residue which may serve as a source of theobromine. Solvent extracted
meal is preferred for the manufacture of protein adhesives, fibers, or plastics, since there
is much less denaturation of the protein in this ;meal than in that obtained by cooking and
mechanical pressing.
Batch extractors vary greatly in design. An extractor which is popular in the castor oil
industry consists of a large horizontal drum (18 by 8.5 ft.) mounted on rollers by means
of which the drum can be rotated on its longitudinal axis. Inside the drum is a horizontal,
perforated, metal strainer covered with a filter mat of burlap, which extends the length of
the drum and divides it into two compartments, one much smaller than the other. The
large compartment receives a charge of 10 to 12 tons of solid material through which
solvent is percolated during the drainage period. Four to six successive extractions suffic
to reduce the oil content of castor pomace from about 15% to 1.5%. A common European
extractor, some what similar, but of a stationary vertical design with internal mixing
arms, has been described.
The extractor commonly used for the extraction of garbage consists of a vertical
cylindrical kettle, with a large ratio of diameter to depth, equipped with a vapor-tight
cover, a steam jacket, and a vertical low speed agitator. The most popular unit is about
4½ feet high and 10 feet in diameter, and takes a charge of 3 to 5 tons of material. This
extractor is suitable also for the extraction of other relatively wet materials, as the
material may be dried and extracted in the same vessel.
Solvent systems are used to some extent fir the attraction of fish liver oils, as well as fish
oil. A number of other types of batch extractor have been described. The extraction of
miscellaneous oil-containing materials, as well as oil seeds, has been developed to a
much higher degree in Europe than in the United States.
Continuous extractors. The oldest successful continuous oil seed extractor, and one that
many still consider the best type is the Bollman or Hansa-Muhle extractor, otherwise
known as the paternoster or basket type. This extractor was designed and first built in
Germany the American-built Blaw-knox and French extractors are very similar.
The basket type extractor (Figure 14 and 15) has the appearance of an enclosed bucket
elevator. Unlike the various type of continuous extractors to be described later, it does not
immerse the oil seed flakes in the solvent but extracts by percolation of solvent through
the flakes while they are held in a series of baskets with perforated bottoms. To ensure
uniform percolation and drainage, the width and depth of the baskets are usually fixed
and the length is varies according to the capacity of the extractor, common dimensions
are 20-28 inches deep, 30-40 inches wide, and 40-85 inches long (114). The baskets
(usually 38 in the earlier models) are supported on endless chains, within a zastight
housing. The flaked oil seeds are conveyed by a screw into a closed charging hopper at
the top of the housing, the completely filled conveyor tube serving as an effective vapor
seal against the solvent vapor inside the extractor. The baskets are continuously and very
slowly raised and lowered at the rate of about I revolution per hour. As each basket starts
down the descending side of the apparatus, a charge of seed is automatically dropped into
it from the charging hopper. Extraction is effected by the percolation of solvent through
the seed during their passage from the top of the bottom and again to the top of the
apparatus. As the baskets containing