UK farms and businesses can now benefit from a complete solution to the processing of oilseed rape, linseed and other oil-producing crops, for conversion into biodiesel and bio-friendly lubrication oils, as well as for culinary purposes.
Long-established UK crop processing systems innovators and manufacturers Alvan Blanch Development Company Ltd unveiled its uniquely comprehensive approach to oil seed processing at the Biodiesel-Expo in Newark, Nottinghamshire, the largest biofuels event in Europe.
Andrew Blanch, managing director of Alvan Blanch explains: "We used Biodiesel-Expo to launch our complete package of equipment for processing oil-bearing seeds on-farm from post harvest through to oil filtration stages – our presentation was even more successful than we had hoped."
The process starts with the drying of the crops after harvest – using a unique drying system that reduces the moisture content in the seed to a safe level for long-term storage, without damaging oil yields.
At the start of the oil extraction stage, the seeds must be cleaned and prepared – Alvan Blanch offers a comprehensive range of cleaners, de-hullers (to remove the outer cover of seeds such as mustard, sunflower, and jatropha) and rollers (to crush the seed for optimum oil yield).
At the heart of the system is the oil expeller - the company's XP100 machine has been designed specifically to meet the growing demand for on-farm production of vegetable oil for conversion to biodiesel in EU markets.
"Alvan Blanch has worked to develop a highly efficient and automated oil extraction system that suits on-farm operation," Mr Blanch explains. "We've achieved this by incorporating a number of new features such as a temperature adjustment chamber, an independently-driven screw feeder that can be set according to seed type and condition, which contributes to optimised oil extraction rates, and full system automation."
Through the use of settling and filtration systems offered by the company, oil from the expeller can be clarified for further processing into biodiesel or for bottling as virgin culinary oil.
The solid 'cake' left behind after oil extraction can also be processed further. Using Alvan Blanch on-farm milling, mixing and pelleting equipment it can be processed into blended animal feed or can be processed into solid fuel pellets.
Alvan Blanch have regionally-based technical sales staff and service engineers providing an exceptional level of customer support from initial on-site consultation through to full system design and then to after-sales support.
