The worldwide interest in the use of full-fat soya has increased in the last few years. Processing soybeans into full fat soya creates a high-quality raw material for the production of animal feed. Full fat soya is an important protein source to feed poultry, ruminants, pig, rabbit, fish and crustaceans.
Because of new methods for growing soybeans the availability and utilization is improving. The improved circumstances for growing, storage and processing is causing a variation in the composition and nutritional values of the full fat soya.
There are various methods for the processing of soybeans. The most effective soya processing method consists of a combination of heat treatment and crushing. This method removes the anti-nutritional factor and makes the oil more accessible.
See below for an overview of the steps in soybean processing:
- Cleaning – at the start of the soybean processing, it is important to remove stones with a destoner, metal parts with a magnet and small grit & fines with a vibrating sieve.
- Crushing – a crusher will crush the bean in 4-8 particles, leaving the skin and crushed soybean. The hulls are removed from the crushed pieces through a wind sifter..
- Temperature – the crushed soybeans are brought up to temperature by adding steam in a conditioner. A toaster is used to keep the crushed soybeans at temperature for a longer period of time.
- Expansion – we use the expander for the expansion of the crushed and conditioned soybean into full-fat soy.
- Steam – the application of steam on the conditioner, toaster and expander is used to heat up and keep the product warm in order to improve gelatinization.
- Cooling – after expansion the product will be cooled to bring the product back to an ambient temperature.