THE INFLUENCE OF PROCESS PARAMETERS ON MECHANICAL EXPRESSION OF SUNFLOWER OILSEEDS

Abstract

Separation of oil from oilseeds is an important processing operation. The process employed has a direct effect on the quality and quantity of protein and oil obtained from the oilseeds. Basically, two methods are used for this purpose. One is the solvent extraction method in which a solvent, when brought in contact with the preconditioned oilseed, dissolves the oil present in the seed and the separated mixture is later heated to evaporate the solvent and obtain the oil. The other method used involves mechanical oil expression. In this process, the preconditioned oilseed is passed through a screw press where a combination of high temperature and shear is used to crush the oilseed to release the oil. The objective of this study was to investigate several process parameters (pressure, time, temperature and moisture content) and their influence on mechanical expression of sunflower oilseeds.