Small-Scale Oilseed Presses: an Evaluation of Six Commercially-Available Designs Chris Callahan1 and Hannah Harwood1 Heather Darby,1 Doug Schaufler,2 Ryan Elias2
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
Small-Scale Oilseed Presses: An Evaluation of Six Commercially-Available Designs Chris Callahan1 and Hannah Harwood1 Heather Darby,1 Doug Schaufler,2 Ryan Elias2 1 University of Vermont Extension, Burlington, Vermont 2 Pennsylvania State University, State College, Pennsylvania As part of a project on adding value nents (Figure 1). In “cold-pressing,” to farm operations with food-grade the seed goes into a central hopper of oils, the University of Vermont Ex- the press and is moved through one tension and Pennsylvania State Ex- or more screws, crushed against a tension teamed up to evaluate the nozzle and screens to extract oil design and operation of several small without heating the seed above a -scale oilseed presses. While there is temperature of 120°F. Oil and meal a great deal of interest in the produc- are separated. tion of oilseeds, many questions arise Presses vary in the number and about post-harvesting processing, breadth of adjustment each needs and many of these concerns revolve and is capable of. Some presses have around the efficiency, affordability, multiple nozzles, with differing di- and best practices of an oilseed Figure 2. Nozzles vary on different ameter holes for differing crops press, which is the heart of the oilseed press designs. (Figure 2). Some have collars that oilseed production system. are heated to a given temperature structions and customer service can Most commercially-available oilseed before operation. vary greatly. Many of the presses are presses have the same basic compo- Unfortunately, manufacturers’ in- made overseas, and it can be difficult to get guidance in installing, wiring, and operating a press, either due to language barriers or geographical distance. In addition, the operational guidelines for different crops can vary. Here in the Northeast, where many growers are producing more than one type of oilseed crop, there is an interest in the type of press that can handle different crops, and in establishing some guidelines for commonly-used oilseed crops. This report aims to guide both estab- lished oilseed processors in best management practices and collabora- tive experiences and also aid new or prospective processors in decision- Figure 1. Standard components of a small-scale oilseed press. making processes. 1 duct objective evaluations of six dif- Methods RULES OF THUMB ferent press designs (Figure 3). The Researchers visited oilseed pro- team evaluated the AgOil M70, Kel- - Start with clean seed. cessing facilities across the Northeast ler KEK P0020, KernKraft 40, Komet - Test and take note of moisture to interview press operators and con- CA59G3, Oil Prince, and Täby 70 (this will vary by crop and press). presses (Table 1). - Take note of seed temperature. At each press location, the same seed - Make small adjustments as you was used to conduct a controlled ex- go, rather than big changes. periment. Sunflower seed (var: ‘Syngenta 3480’) was harvested in basic setup but was at a faster speed 2012 in Alburgh, VT; canola seed (adjusted Hz/RPM) to demonstrate a (var: ‘5535 CL’) was harvested in higher pressing capacity. Finally, 2012 in Brandon, VT; and soybeans each machine was run at a lower (var: ‘Boyd’) were harvested in 2012 speed (adjusted Hz/RPM) with the in Charlotte, VT. intent of yielding more oil. Quantita- Each press evaluation began with tive and anecdotal data from each normal operation, using the individu- method (and sometimes trials at ad- al operator’s preferred tuning of the ditional speeds) were noted. Each Figure 3. Researchers and farmers machine. The second method of op- method was repeated for each of the work together on press evaluations. eration for each press used the same three oilseed crops when possible. Table 1. Specifications for six presses evaluated during the course of this study. (lbs seed/24(lbs hrs) Estimated capacity year purchase cost + Approximate Power source Rated load Adjustable speed head Heated barrel / Multiple screws Adjustable nozzle screw between head and Adjustable gap Ease of set available diameter PRESS - up $8,500 1.5 kW / AgOil M70 700 240v X X X Simple (2012) 2.0 HP $8,300 2.2 kW / Keller KEK P0020 1056 230v X X Simple (2010) 3.0 HP $15,000 3.0 kW / KernKraft 40 1200 220v X X X X X Finicky (2010) 4.0 HP $8,000 1.1 kW / Komet CA59G3 260 115v AC X X X Simple (2008) 1.5 HP Oil Prince $6,000 2.2 kW / 1800 220v X X X X X Finicky (KernKraft 20F) (2012) 3.0 HP $7,000 2.2 kW / Täby 70 1500 220-240v X X X X Moderate (2005) 3.0 HP 2 Press 1. AgOil M70 Roger Rainville of Borderview Re- MANUFACTURER search Farm in Alburgh, VT pur- CONTACT INFORMATION chased an AgOil in late 2012. The cold screw press is made in the [made in U.S.A.] United States, one of many deciding www.agoilpress.com factors for Rainville, who was inter- ested in readily-available parts and service. AgOil Mondovi, WI The AgOil has a simple design, with Figure 5. The AgOil M70 comes (877) 645-7737 a single screw and an in-line Varia- with three different sized nozzles: [email protected] ble Frequency Drive (VFD) mount- 220, 250, and 280. ed on the gear box (Figure 4). With relatively few adjustments to be seed flow into the press, observing others to achieve the maximum effi- made, the press is simple to get run- cleanliness and any potential mal- ciency for a given crop or condition ning according to Rainville, and can functions. A “blast gate” stops seed (Figure 5). be used to easily switch between flow when necessary. As used at crops without stopping to adjust. Borderview, after the band heater AgOil indicates that oil extraction has brought the temperature to ap- efficiency on the M70 is 82-90% of The press itself takes up very little proximately 120°F, the heater is re- the oil content in the seed. Trial re- space, with dimensions of approxi- moved and the machine’s motor is sults from this study show an aver- mately 10”x10”x39”. A clear feed turned on. A central screw inside the age of 24.2% net oil extraction hopper allows processors to watch barrel forces seed against the crush across three crops (canola yielded plate and retainer. Meal is extruded 24.6% oil, soybean averaged 5.7% in the form of oil, and sunflower averaged 38.6% crude pellets, oil). and oil drips from the crush Rainville has been satisfied with the barrel’s holes. AgOil so far, though it has a lower capacity than his other presses. A variable Press capacity averaged 697 lbs in speed controller 24 hours over multiple crops and allows opera- speed settings. tors to adjust the speed of the The press came with very minimal machine and setup instructions, so initial installa- allow for the tion was cumbersome according to extraction of Rainville. However, customer ser- more oil. There vice since then has been mostly reli- are three differ- able with this American-made oil ent nozzles that press. The company also provides come standard “crush tests,” in which a sample of with the press; the grower’s particular crop can be Figure 4. AgOil 70 press at 40 RPM, pressing soybeans. they can be shipped to the facility for testing. swapped out for 3 Press 2. Keller KEK P0020 The German-designed Keller KEK P0020, which is approximately 51”x12”x27”, is simple, with very few adjustments (Figure 6). Only the screw speed and the distance or gap between the head and the collar leave room for fine-tuning, making the press streamlined and effective. Operator Lloyd Byers in Liverpool, PA, purchased the press for $8300 in 2010, with freight included and an installation cost of about $600. Byers reports that the Keller is easy to set up for pressing, and requires very little supervision once running. When the press is running for long periods of time, he checks a few times a day to make sure seed flow Figure 6. The Keller press has a single barrel and drive. and press operation are optimal, but can generally leave it unattended begin. Byers generally operates the the day of the press evaluation, nei- with a large quantity of seed to press at approximately 32 RPMs, ther soybeans nor canola could be press. and uses the number of visible pressed through the mill. Byers has threads between the screw end and pressed canola with great success in Unlike many other small-scale press- the nozzle as a reference for setting the past, but difficulties with soy- es, the Keller requires no “pre- the gap. Oil is extracted through the beans remain a problem. Customer heating” with band heaters to start. crush barrel, and the meal produced service, however, has been prompt Operators simply turn on the motor, is in a “flake” form (Figure 7). Byers and thorough. load the hopper with seed, and looks for flakes about the size and shape of potato chips to indicate that DISTRIBUTOR the press is operating as it should. CONTACT INFORMATION The consistency and speed of the meal is the most reliable indicator of problems with press operation. Man- [made in Germany] ufacturers promise that the use of “hard-wearing” steel reduces costly www.keller-kek.de maintenance and repair issues. Distributor in the U.S.: In this trial, the average mass oil Elwyn Beck fraction for sunflowers was 40.7%, Figure 7. This was the only press Sioux Falls, South Dakota and capacity averaged 130 lbs in 24 evaluated in this study that produces (605) 354-1323 hours.