FOT241 (Practical)

PROCESSING TECHNOLOGY OF
LEGUMES AND OILSEEDS
• 1. Experiment: To study the mini oil mill.

• Learning Objectives: To estimate essential oil

content in the expelled fraction of oilseed

 Extraction or recovery of oil
• Oil can be extracted either by mechanical means
or chemical methods
• Mechanically, oil can be extracted by 2 methods
a. Batch pressing or hydraulic pressing: In recent
years increase mechanization and higher labor
cost have made hydraulic press uneconomical for
extraction of oil
b. Generally batch press are of two types: open
type and close type
 Contd…
• Open type: Requires oily material to be confined
to press cloth . These can be further classified as
Plate press or box press
• Close type: Material is placed in some special
cage. Can be further classified as Pot press or
Cage press
• Completeness of process of oil recovery depends
on various factors: moisture, cooking method,
chemical composition of seed, pressure applied
Screw presses;
In oil industry, screw presses (expellers) are mostly
utilized for expression. The main parts of
continous-screw press are;
• Seed feeder,
• Cone-shaped cage
• Adjustable cone for press-cake outlet
• Worm (pressure and feed)
 Polling question
• Oil recovery depends on moisture, cooking
method, chemical composition of seed,
pressure applied. State True or False.
Cooked seed flakes
Screw press Adjustable cone for press-
cake outlet

knife
Cone shaped pressure
cage Main worm shaft

cake

Crude oil
• A screw pulls the seeds from the funnel inlet/hopper and crushes
them in the area of the barrel.
• The pulverized seeds move into the press head where their water
content turns to steam under intense pressure.
• Without water content, no oil extraction would happen because
the motion of the screw does not push the cake out the nozzle.
• The expanding steam pressure in the cake pushes it out the nozzle.

• The oil floating freely in the press head is repulsed by this and
moves backwards to drop out of the barrel orifices.
• A high-quality oil press (such as I sell), extracts
about 90% of oil from quality feedstock at a
rate of 1 gallon of oil per horsepower per
hour.
• The seeds enter the barrel and falls on the helical pressure
worm.
• During movement in the barrel, between worm and cage is
gradually reduced and the seed flakes are subjected to
increasing pressure.
• The cage is made of a number of special steel bars which let
liquids pass through.
• The oil passes between the bars an flows out of the cage.
• The cone moves along the shaft of the expeller and the
space between the worm and cone can be regulated.
• This permits easy control of the thichnesses of cakes and of
the degree of pressure to which the cooked flakes are
subjected.
 Theory/Principle:

• The oil expeller is the mechanical method to

obtain essential oil. This is the most popularly

used method to obtain essential oil, producing

virgin oil that has low level of free fatty acid.

 Polling question
• Screw press works on the principle on
compression and shear. State true or false.
 Outline of the procedure:
1. Select oilseeds and clean it to remove any
dockage.
2. Weigh the oilseeds and note down the
weight.
3. The oilseeds are suspended in the oil expeller.
4. Express the sample to obtain essential oil.
5. Collect the oil in a measuring cylinder.
6. Weight the obtained oil and the retained oil
cake to measure the yield of the oil obtained
 General calculations
• The fat/oil content is calculated by the
formula: %oleoresin (w.b.) =
• (W4 – W1) / (W3- W2) x 100
 Scope of result:
• It is the most widespread method used in food
industries
 Cautions

1. The water supply should not stop during the

experiment. If so, the heatersshould be put off.

2. Take care that solvent should not come in contact

with any heated surface as it is highly inflammable