Solvent Extraction Plant Process Description:

Solvent Extraction Plants process mainly comprises of

the following steps:
a. Preparation of Oil Cake/Seeds suitable for Solvent
Extraction Plantsto remove oil and produce defatted
meal.
b. Hexane Solvent Extraction Plants of the material
obtained from Step-A by using food grade n-hexane as
solvent.

Solvent Extractor:
The Extractor is a slow moving articulated band conveyor
inside a totally enclosed chamber. The band conveyor is
lined with perforated sheet, covered with stainless steel
wire mesh for easy percolation of Miscella. The Band
Conveyor moves on the rail provided inside the solvent

extractor. A series of sprays are located above the

band conveyor for spraying miscella and solvent on top
of the moving material bed of the extractor. During the
movement of the bed through the extractor it is washed
continuously at various points with miscella of decreasing
concentration and finally with a fresh solvent
extraction plants in a counter current manner by
means of sprays kept in a line over the meal bed. The
miscella percolates through the meal bed, pass through
bottom and collects in various hoppers kept below the
bed which ultimately flows to the miscella holding tank.
The extracted meal from the band conveyor falls into the
discharge bin conveyed to the desolventising section by
vapour seal chain conveyor.

DESOLVENTIZER :
Unlike the standard designs which incorporate 7/8 stage
Desolventiser Toaster to recover hexane vapours from
defatted meal care is taken to protect the quality of
protein by desolventising the meal in only 6 stages with
the help of Direct and Indirect heating.

DISTILLATION:
It is complete in 3 stages at temperatures not exceeding
95C to yield an oil of good colour and quality, free of
volatiles and moisture, which can increase of FFA in
storage.
In the first stage 50% of the removal of hexane is done

in a Rising Film Evaporator using hot vapours from DT.

This specially designed RISING FILM EVAPORATOR is an
ENERGY SAVING DEVICE.
The next step is a RISING FILM unit where 98% hexane
removal is done using steam.
The final traces of hexane are removed in a vacuum
stripper by open steam stripping and the oil is then dried
to desired level in an integral vacuum drier.

HEXANE RECOVERY PLANT:

This stream consists of water cooled condensers, vent
condenser and mineral oil absorber system to ensure the
lowest hexane loss achieved.
The residual vapours from these condensers are
evacuated by vacuum pump or ejectors to a vent
condenser cooled by water in close circuit. The residual
air is aspirated through an absorption tower where
mineral oil absorbs residual hexane in air before being
exhausted to the air.

Process Description for Continuous Solvent Extraction Plant

The process of solvent extraction results into a solution of the oil in solvent by
diffusing solvent into the oil- bearing of raw materials. Different types of solvents
can be used for this purpose, but among all those, hexane is extensively used in
the solvent extraction due to its low boiling point.
Following are the different stages into which the entire extraction
process is divided:
Preparation Of Raw Material (Seed Preparatory Section)
There are 3 different types of Soyabeans viz. brown, yellow and black with 18 22% content of oil. These Soyabeans are firstly cleansed, graded and then finally
fed into the cracker, where these are cracked into small pieces. The gap between
the cracker rolls should be adjusted in such a way as to avoid powder of the
beans.
As to separate the hulls, a hull- separator is attached to the cracker machine into
which the material is received. The broken meats with some content of hulls is
carried on the vibratory deck into the hopper whereas, the powdery material
called chuni is collected at the lower most deck.
A current of air is passed for minimizing the content of hulls in the material. After
this, the material is passed into the cooker conditioner for further processing.
A jacket steam along with injection of open steam is applied for complete
conditioning of the beans. There is a flaker machine into which the conditioned
meats are fed and then processed through a pair of smooth rolls rotating at the
same speed in opposite direction. Compression springs or hydraulic power pack
is attached in the rolls due to which the thickness of flakes is adjusted. Generally,
the thickness of the flakes coming out of the machine is about 0.25 to 0.28 mm.
After flaking, the Soyabeans are fed into the expander for preparing the cakes
and collets. In order to remove the moisture from the collets generated from the
expander, these are fed in dryer cooler and cooled up to the extraction
temperature. Finally, the cooled collets free from moisture are fed to the
extraction system through Redler 186.
Process Of Extraction In Solvent Extraction Plant
After the extraction process, the materials are fed onto a conveyor through a
hopper. There, it forms a solid bed, not allowing solvent vapours to escape. Entire
extraction process is carried out in different stages until almost 95% of the
original content of oil is extracted from the raw materials. A temperature of 50
60 oC and a slightly low pressure as compared to atmospheric is maintained in
the extractor for the processing.
Extraction Process
In this extraction process, the raw materials are treated with hexane and the oil
is recovered, resulting into a solution of oil in hexane called miscella.
Condensation, evaporation and distillation of miscella are the process through
which the absorbed hexane in the material is recovered. The reason due to which
hexane is opted for the extraction process is its low boiling point (67 oC) and high
solubility of oils and fats in it.

Hexane, being a highly inflammable compound requires utmost care during

processing. Thus, all those stages that involve high speed machineries like
finishing, material preparation and bagging are carried out at least 50 ft. away
from the main extraction plant.
Desolventising
The meal discharged from extractor contains 25% to 30% solvent. This solvent is
removed after the meal is propelled in Desolventiser Toaster with the help of
high-pressure jacket heating and low-pressure spurge steam. During solvent
evaporation process equipment pressure will be slightly below the atmospheric
pressure. Thus vapour losses and residual solvent in meal are minimized.
Distillation
According to the nature of the raw materials, the miscella has 10% to 18%
content of oil. Firstly, the solvent is separated out from the mixture through
carrying out distillation inside heat exchangers, maintaining vacuum conditions.
After distillation, the miscella is fed to a flasher, where the content of solvent is
reduced to 2%- 3% in the miscella. In an atomizer, on the top and at the jacketed
column, hot oil is sprayed and an open steam is injected at the bottom for
further processing. A temperature of 27 29oC is maintained in the shell and
tube condensers for condensing the solvent vapors. After condensing, final
solvent content is removed and separated out from the oil.
Vent Vapour Recovery By Absorption
Non-condensable gases with mostly air get into the system during the processes
like extraction, drying and distillation. These gases can cause damage to the
system, and thus, have to be vented out. For this, an adsorption system is
attached through which the vent gases are passed through. In this adsorption
system, there is vegetable oil that completely adsorbs the solvent traces in the
gases. A regular check on the oil has to be carried out for the presence of
volatiles and as per the requirements, has to be rejected when these levels
become perceptible.
Meal Finishing
De-oiled meal is finally transferred to the finishing unit, where it is cooled by air
prior to bagging and packing