Soyabeans Processing Lin​e Manufacturer

Soyabeans Processing Line

Shijiazhuang Xinlu Technology Co., Ltd. – Comprehensive Technical Overview of Soyabeans Processing Line

Soyabeans processing is a multifaceted operation that transforms raw beans into various products for human consumption, animal feed, and industrial applications. A complete processing line from Shijiazhuang Xinlu Technology Co., Ltd. is engineered to handle the specific characteristics of soybeans, focusing on efficiency, preservation of nutritional value, and production flexibility. The line is designed as a sequential system where each stage is critical for determining the quality and specification of the final output, whether it be for edible oil extraction, protein concentrates, or whole bean food products.

The initial phase is the pre-cleaning and storage of raw soybeans. Upon intake, beans are passed through preliminary cleaners, which typically involve vibrating screens and aspiration systems to remove field impurities such as stalks, stones, sand, and dust. This step is essential for protecting downstream equipment from abrasive damage and preventing contamination. The cleaned beans are then conveyed to storage silos where conditions are monitored to maintain optimal moisture levels, preventing spoilage before processing begins.

Following storage, the beans undergo drying and tempering. If the moisture content is too high for stable storage or subsequent processing, dryers are employed to reduce it to a precise level, typically around 10-12%. After drying, tempering bins allow for the equilibration of moisture throughout the beans, which reduces stress cracking and improves the performance of the dehulling stage. The dehulling and separation process is a critical step, especially for producing high-protein meal or full-fat soy flour. Cracking rollers gently break the beans into smaller pieces, and the hulls are loosened. A combination of air aspiration and vibrating screens is then used to separate the light hulls from the heavier meat (cotyledons). Efficient dehulling improves the protein concentration of the final meal and reduces fiber content.

For many applications, the dehulled bean pieces are then conditioned and flaking. Conditioning involves heating the beans with steam to a specific temperature and moisture level. This heat treatment serves multiple purposes: it denatures anti-nutritional factors like trypsin inhibitors, which is crucial for making the beans safe and nutritious for consumption; it plasticizes the bean pieces, making them more malleable. The conditioned pieces are then passed through heavy-duty flaking rollers to create thin flakes. Flaking increases the surface area, which is vital for the efficient extraction of oil in the next stage.

The oil extraction phase can follow two main paths. For full-fat products, the flakes are simply milled into flour. For oil production, the flakes are processed using a solvent extraction method, where a food-grade solvent (like hexane) percolates through the flakes to dissolve the oil. The resulting miscella (oil-solvent mixture) is then distilled to recover the solvent, leaving crude soybean oil. The defatted flakes, now called white flakes, can be toasted to further improve nutritional quality and then ground into defatted soy flour. Alternatively, these white flakes can be processed further to produce soy protein concentrates or isolates through a series of washes with water and alcohol to remove soluble carbohydrates, followed by drying and grinding.

Finally, the finishing and packaging stage involves milling the final product to a specific particle size and packaging it according to its end-use. This could involve bulk bagging for industrial customers or smaller, retail-ready packaging. The entire processing line from Shijiazhuang Xinlu Technology Co., Ltd. is designed with hygiene, energy efficiency, and process control in mind, often incorporating PLC systems for consistent and repeatable operation. This comprehensive approach ensures that processors can adapt the line to produce a wide range of soybean-derived products to meet diverse market demands.