Guide for farms to plan small scale soya bean processing equipment

Practical Recommendations

The core of the processing facility is equipment which serves the purpose to convert raw soya beans into a digestible form via heat treatment. The required processing can be achieved through different technological procedures (see overview in Table 1).

First step: Economic assessment

• Is the consumption of soya products on my farm sufficient to achieve a return on investment within a reasonable period?       A reference example for on-farm soya bean processing infrastructure in Austria and Germany are farms operating with an annual consumption of minimum 70-100 tons of soya beans. For organic farms, profitability can start around 50 tons per year already
• Conduct a cost-benefit calculation for the whole processing equipment system. Cost factors to be included: depreciation of the equipment, energy costs per unit of output, maintenance costs per unit of output unit and time efforts for maintenance, processing and supervision. When processing equipment is operating only in small batches and with many breaks, the machinery is operating on a below average efficiency. Full energy efficiency as listed by the manufacturer might not be achieved. It is like driving a car. Stop and go traffic is less efficient than a continuous drive. Economic benefit factors: market value of the derived product. The market price for soya feed products can vary significantly over the year.  The premium for soya products in non-GM quality ranges in Central Europe from 60-110 EUR during the last years.
• If a depreciation calculation is not satisfying due to a too small number of operating hours per year, the subsequent follow-up actions can be considered:
  • Implementing the processing facility as a joint project with neighbouring farms
  • Offering processing as a service for others. This can be done either through stationary or mobile solutions.
  • Reconsidering the decision for investing in soya bean processing equipment
• If soya bean processing equipment is used for others as a service, the general legal framework and possible additional requirements of certification schemes must be considered.

Table 1: Selection of manufacturers of processing technology for soya beans. This list covers equipment which is already used by farmers in Central Europe. Links to websites are in ‘Further Information’.

*processing time can differ slightly. Time settings are for example adjusted to moisture content.

Complementary notes to Table 1

• Proper cleaning of soya beans before heat treating is a must.
• Additional pre-conditioning of beans such as moistening, peeling or splitting might be recommended by manufacturers to obtain a better processing performance.
• Availability of technical support by region and language is important for setup, maintenance and handling.
• Comparing processing temperatures among manufacturers can be challenging. Most relevant is the temperature in the core of the bean, but this value can be only estimated. Equally important is that the heat treatment is applied evenly.
• The possibility to manually adjust processing parameters is particularly important if batches of very different qualities are expected.
• Balance of investment and degree of process automatization and effort for supervision.

Oil presses and additional coolers are optional tools and are commonly used

Second step: When is an oil press advisable?

Using an oil press can reduce the oil content from about 20% in the raw soya bean to approximately 10%. The derived product is called soya bean cake (see photo 3 and 4). Using an oil press allows producers to respond to a diversity of customer needs: soya bean cake stores better and is easier to include in rations than full-fat soya beans.

A further advantage of pressing soya beans is that the resulting oil can be marketed. Possible applications are as feed or as a raw material in the food industry. It is common to sell soya bean oil in bottles for use in the kitchen, see photo 5. Cold pressed soya bean oil is suitable for frying or baking. It contains a high proportion of healthy polyunsaturated omega 3 fatty acids.