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06/27/2025In the soybean processing industry, soybean meal - the high-moisture residue left after oil extraction, typically containing around 70% moisture - must be effectively dewatered to ensure safe storage, transportation, and further use as animal feed or organic fertilizer. Furui Machinery offers screw press dewatering machines for efficient soybean meal dewatering. In this blog, we’ll explore the characteristics of soybean meal and how to use a screw press for this task.
Understanding Soybean Meal Characteristics
Before diving into the equipment and process, let’s take a closer look at the unique properties of soybean meal and why dewatering it can be tricky:
- High Moisture Content (70%): Excess water creates high stickiness and low flowability.
- Fine, Loose Particles: These easily clog filters or pass through screens, reducing solids recovery.
- Residual Oil Content (0.5-2%): Remaining oil may cause sticking, affecting equipment performance and requiring frequent cleaning.
Uses of Dewatered Soybean Meal
Once dewatered, soybean meal becomes a valuable by-product:
- Animal Feed: Dewatered soybean meal is a major component in feed for poultry, pigs, cattle, and fish due to its high protein content (around 44-48%).
- Organic Fertilizer: Soybean meal is rich in nitrogen and slowly releases nutrients, making it suitable for organic farming.
- Bioenergy Feedstock: Dewatered soybean meal can be used as a feedstock for biogas production through anaerobic digestion. Its organic content contributes to high biogas yield.
Applications
Our soybean meal dewatering machines are used in:
- Soybean oil extraction plants
- Animal feed production lines
- Organic fertilizer processing
- General-purpose plant fiber dewatering (cassava residue, palm fiber, brewers’ grain, kitchen waste, fruit and vegetable waste, paper pulp, and more)
Dewatering Press Machine
Screw Press to Sri Lanka
Screw Dewatering Process for Soybean Meal
1. Pre-treatment of Materials
- Crushing: If soybean meal is lumpy, a crusher or mixer is used to break it down for uniform feeding.
- Moisture Adjustment: If moisture >70%, add dry auxiliary materials like rice husks to absorb water and improve flowability.
- Impurity Removal: Use vibrating screens or magnetic separators to eliminate hard materials like stones or metal that may damage the machine.
2. Machine Setup and Parameter Optimization
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Screen Mesh: Choose fine mesh (0.2-0.5 mm) to minimize particle loss.
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Screw Shaft Speed: Low speed (5-10 RPM) prolongs squeezing time and improves dewatering. If the soybean meal contains more oil, slightly increase the speed (10-15 RPM) to reduce sticking.
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Pressure Settings: Start with 0.3-0.5 MPa and gradually increase to 1.5-2.5 MPa, and adjust the pressure for optimal squeezing.
3. Operating the Screw Press
- Preheat the Machine: Let it run empty for 1-2 minutes to warm up screw and mesh - this helps reduce initial sticking.
- Steady Feeding: Maintain a consistent flow to avoid pressure fluctuations. Besides, keep the feed rate at 70-80% of the rated capacity (e.g., 0.7-0.8 t/h for a 1 t/h model). Before purchasing, please talk with Furui Machinery to choose a suitable model for your project.
- Check the dryness of discharged solids. The dewatered cake should form a ball when squeezed by hand but fall apart when released.
Why Dewater Soybean Meal with a Screw Press?
1. High-Efficiency Moisture Reduction
Soybean meal typically contains over 70% moisture, which makes it difficult to store or transport. The screw press applies continuous pressure through a rotating screw, effectively squeezing out most of the free water and even part of the bound moisture.
Result: Moisture levels can be reduced to 50% or even lower, making the meal lighter and easier to handle.
Benefit: Significant reduction in drying time and energy consumption if thermal drying is used afterward.
2. Volume and Weight Reduction
Mechanical dewatering substantially reduces both the volume and weight of soybean meal. This reduces storage space requirements. Lowers transportation and disposal costs, especially when costs are based on weight or volume.
3. Continuous and Automated Operation
The screw press supports continuous feeding, pressing, and discharge, making them perfect for industrial soybean processing lines. This reduces manual labor requirements and enhances productivity and consistency.
4. Environmentally Friendly Operation
The process is entirely mechanical, with:
- No chemical additives required,
- Low odor emissions (can be minimized with sealing and optional deodorizing systems),
- Minimal wastewater generation.
This helps meet environmental compliance and sustainability goals.
Things to Note:
- Pre-treatment is necessary: Large lumps, metal debris, or hard materials should be removed in advance to prevent equipment damage.
- Regular screen cleaning is essential to maintain optimal dewatering performance.
Conclusion
Efficient dewatering of soybean meal is crucial for reducing handling costs and improving storage safety. Furui Machinery’s screw press dewatering machine offers a reliable, energy-efficient solution to meet the challenges of soybean meal processing. More than that, our screw dewatering machine is also used to process various biomass waste, such as sawdust, grass, fruit and vegetable waste, etc. Contact Furui Machinery today to get expert advice and customized solutions for your dewatering needs. Let’s help you turn waste into value.