50 T/DAY OIL SOLVENT EXTRACTION PLANT

The seed preparatory section as described above costs Euro 145,000. The equipment for Solvent Extraction consisting of Extraction, Meal Desolventisation, Distillation, Solvent Recovery System, Filter Press etc. costs Euro 242,500. The Meal/Cake treatment section including the bagging section costs Euro 57,500.

The extracted and desolventised meal is transported to the optional bagging section by means of a Conveyor fitted with cooling arrangements.

The air that is being ejected out of the system contains traces of solvent. In order to recover these traces, a special final vent air stripping column has been provided. It comprises of a main Absorber to give a large contact surface. It is partly filled with groundnut oil to absorb the solvent vapors from the air. The oil and solvent mixture is distilled later to recover the solvent.

Solvent vapors are formed both in the Desolventisation Section as well as in the Distillation Section and need to be condensed. Special floating head types help quick and easy removal of tubular bundles for periodical cleaning.

The solvent vapors thus produced passes through an Oil Vapor separator to separate out any oil particles trapped with the solvent vapors before passing on to a Condenser.

Distillation is performed in three stages under vacuum to ensure that no oxygen is present when the oil is heated to a high temperature. Presence of Oxygen will make the oil rancid. First evaporation takes place in an Economizer and is followed by a Flasher leaving practically only oil behind. This oil is further treated with open steam to ensure that no solvent stays behind.

Miscella contains 12% to 18% solvent in the case of oil cakes or rice bran but 25% to 35% in the case of sunflower seed or rapeseed. During distillation, solvent evaporates first due to its lower boiling point (64 to 67

50 t/d Oil Solvent Extraction Plant including: Seed preparatory section, Main extraction section and Meal/cake treatment section