EXPANDERS USED FOR PRETREATMENT OF OILSEE DS

For quite a couple of years expanders are used for pretreatment of oil seeds, especially for soybeans and cottonseed. By increase of the bulk weight and the percolation rate the capacity of the extraction plant can be optimized. Energy consumption or phosphatides in the degummed o il hardly play any role when thinking about integration of expanders i nto an extraction plant. Recent developments allow to take the expande r as a continuous unit, where the important parameters like temperatur e, moisture, time, and in some cases pressure and shear forces can be controlled. This allows to influence not only the character of the ext raction meal but also the quality of the extracted oil.