Screw press: description of the design, principle of operation and methods of extraction

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Using an oil screw press, vegetable oil can be obtained from a variety of crops without any problems. Depending on what you have to work with, the technical characteristics and design of the device change. However, in any case, it is quite simple, and therefore you can make it yourself.

Device features

If a screw press is available, whether it is handmade or purchased, it will be a good helper for making vegetable oil yourself. Features of the unit allow you to get the following benefits:

• If homemade oil is obtained, it will have a shelf life of about two years.
• If a household type screw press is used, the seeds of plants such as sunflowers, olives or nuts can be processed successfully.

Structural elements of equipment

If you want to make a home oil press, then its base should be a worm-type screw. When assembling and designing this equipment, veryit is important to remember that the maximum pressure will directly depend on the diameter of the worm nut, as well as on the power of the beam risers. In order to make the design more reliable during operation, it is worth making the main emphasis for the press more powerful than required. These important requirements are fully met, for example, by a screw press for wringing, which is created from solid oak wood. However, it will cost quite a lot. The same design, but only made of metal, can become an analogue.

There are also household presses of the cylindrical type, which usually do not have a bottom. This role, as a rule, is played by an ordinary iron bucket. To increase the reliability and strength of the cylinder itself, you can tie it with a metal strip from below. If the cylinder is made of wood, then it must be dry and made from the hardest possible wood. As in the previous case, the best option is oak wood.

One of the most important design elements that should be present in any model is peeling rollers. Usually they are presented in the form of a pair of replaceable rollers. The rotation of these parts is ensured by placing gears on metal racks.

The principle of operation of the fixture

The essence of the screw press is as follows.

1. He has a loading bucket where raw materials are poured for processing.
2. With the help of the handle, rollers covered with a cloth are set in motion -grater.
3. Due to the rotation of these devices, the raw material is pulled into the space between them. This is how peeling works.
4. After the cleaning process is over, both the husk and sunflower seeds fall into the lower bucket.
5. This mixture is sieved.
6. It is necessary to replace the rolls with a grater cloth, with rolls with a completely smooth surface. It is with their help that the spin will take place.
7. The peeled seeds are poured into the top bucket again.
8. The devices have a lever that adjusts the gap between the rollers. At this stage, it must be moved to the second position in order to reduce the gap between the elements to achieve the desired result.
9. After rolling, a mushy mass will be obtained, which must be pressed to make vegetable oil.

Oil pressing methods

Squeezing liquid with a screw press can be hot or cold. If the first method is used, then after rolling it is necessary to move the porridge to the roaster. The temperature here should reach 110 degrees Celsius, and the product must be constantly moistened. In addition, the mass must be constantly mixed. After this stage of preparation, the raw material moves to the screw press, where the desired operation takes place. The oil obtained in this way is distinguished by a bright red color, as well as a strongly pronounced smell of roasted seeds.

The use of the second method is more preferable, since there is no need for thermal exposure, due to which they evaporatemany useful substances. In practice, the technology for obtaining oil is exactly the same as with the hot method, with the exception of the stage where the slurry is heated to high temperatures.

Production equipment

Today vegetable oil production lines can be described by the following stages. Firstly, it is necessary to dry the product, remove all impurities and contaminants. Secondly, there is a special compartment where the seeds are separated from the husk and crushed. The crushed raw material is subjected to steaming. If you plan a hot method for obtaining oil, then you also need to fry it. After that, the process of squeezing the oil out of the seeds takes place. It is also important to add that the oil that has just been obtained immediately goes through the filtration stage, which greatly increases its purity. The last stage in the production line is filling into plastic containers and sending to storage.