An Insight into Small Scale Oil Mill Line

Around the world, the consumption of edible oils is growing by the day. You have probably noticed that the demand for different types of oils is also increasing as people have differing tastes and uses of the same. What you may not know is that such oils are produced from a variety of simple seeds and nuts such as soya, coconut, maize, sunflower, ground nuts, macadamia seed, sesame seed and mustard seed to name a few. So, how is oilseed extracted and processed?
 

Large Scale Oil Milling

Well, the most common method is by large scale manufacturing. Highly efficient and utilizing the economies of scale, these plants have well established brands and varieties as well as huge capacities. You will typically find them in or near urban areas which serve as their primary market. As such, you will rarely get access to their products if you live in remote rural areas because of the high transport costs involved. If and when you do however, it will be at a high price. So, you may be asking, is there a cheaper alternative for such alienated communities? Yes, and it is by way of a small scale oil mill line.
 

Small Scale Oil Milling

These is a series of oil milling machinery connected together to increase efficiency and yield. Each machine can also be operated separately if need be. You will find the whole line simple to install, operate and maintain. It has low start up costs and you can process many nut and seeds varieties as well. The milling process is composed of the following steps each with their corresponding machinery.  

• Pretreatment

The first in this step is cleaning. You will remove various impurities such as sand, leaves, stones, liquids and metals from the edible material using different machines such as a vibrating sieve, destoner, cyclone separator and metal remover. Proceed to soften the raw material in a crusher before hulling then flaking or rupturing it in more machines
 

• Expelling

You will then expel the oil from the kernel by using a press. This can either be a cold press where you only use pressure or a hot press where you include heat and chemicals.
 

• Extraction

It is here that you extract the oil from the raw material using extraction machines. They remove the oil using mechanical pressure and further by chemical solvents.
 

• Refining

In this step you will refine the material further by using refining machines to remove unwanted pigments, flavours and chemicals. This makes the oil fit for human consumption.
 

• Filling

You are now ready to package your oil into bottles using filling machines which fill, label and seal your oil products.
 

Advantages Of A Small Scale Oil Mill Line

Your mill will be a source of income to yourself and to your community. You will create employment opportunities and a market for local farmers. Affordable oil products previously out of reach to your community will now be available and accessible. Furthermore, the oilseed you produce on a small scale will retain the high value oil cake that is usually lost in large scale processing.
 

Points To Consider

To efficiently and profitably run a small scale oil mill, you should first ensure the availability of locally produced raw materials. This will keep your transport costs down to a minimum. If you lack in capital or more advanced equipment, focus on extracting oils that require little or no refining such as sesame, ground nut, sunflower and palm kernel. This is because not all crude oils are not suitable for human consumption without refining.
 
Secondly, market your products in retail size packaging material which suits your customers demands or simply supply your oil in large containers such as drums to local stores. Finally, maintain high levels of heath and safety in your plant. Of particular concern is problem of aflatoxin producing moulds. Their growth however, can be easily prevented by the proper selection, drying and storage of your seed material.