Mathematical simulation of an oilseed press

A mathematical model of an oilseed press was developed by superimposition of filtration analysis on screw extrusion theory to calculate press throughput and residual oil content in presscake for a given press geometry and physical properties of oilseed. The model predicted that press performance would improve, i.e., the throughput would increase and residual oil would decrease, if the press were cooled during operation. Longer presses would also give higher throughputs with lower residual oil contents. The predicted effects of changes in shaft speed and choke opening on press performance agreed reasonably well with experimental results obtained on a small laboratory press. A relatively large error of 9.0% in the prediction of throughput could be attributed to changes in viscosity of oilseed mass occurring during its passage through the press. It is expected that use of ‘expression’ analysis in place of the simple filtration analysis would improve the predictive ability of the model.