Oil expellers
Optiflow 30 screw press
Double-chamber screw press for multi-oilseed crushing
Crushing capacityOn request
Motor powerOn request
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Double-chamber oil expeller
A double-chamber oil expeller compresses the seed twice on its way to the discharge instead of once. That is the whole idea, and it is why these machines leave 6–7% oil in the meal on a correctly conditioned seed rather than sending it back for a second pass.
What the second chamber actually does
Inside the cage, the worm flights carry seed towards the discharge and the space available to it shrinks, so pressure rises and oil is forced out through the gaps between the cage bars. In a double-chamber press that happens in two stages: the second chamber runs a tighter flight pitch than the first, so material arriving already compressed is compressed again.
The gain is not simply more pressure. Between the stages the cake breaks up and rearranges, which opens fresh paths for oil that was trapped inside a compacted plug. A single long compression tends to seal the cake against itself; two shorter ones do not.
Single chamber or double chamber
A single-chamber press is a simpler and cheaper machine, and for a small mill crushing one seed at modest tonnage it can be the right one. The trade is what stays in the cake. To reach a low residual on a single chamber you generally choke the machine harder, which costs throughput and power and wears the worms faster, or you accept the residual and run the cake through a second time.
A double chamber gets at the same oil within one pass, which is why we build the Optiflow 30, 40 and 50 this way. The Optiflow 45 is our single-chamber press, used for pre-pressing, as on our groundnut line. The figures on this page are for the double-chamber models, and the comparison above is about mechanism rather than about any particular machine.
Where the operator still decides the outcome
The second chamber sets what the machine is capable of; the cone choke at the discharge end sets what you actually get. Backing the cone off passes more seed per hour and leaves more oil in the cake. Tightening it does the reverse, and past a point it simply heats the cake and shortens the life of the worms and cone parts.
Conditioning matters at least as much. A double-chamber press fed cold or wet seed will not reach the residual we publish, which is why we quote the oilseed cooker alongside the press rather than leaving preparation to chance.
Technical data
Published figures for the three models
As printed on each machine’s own page. Capacity depends on the seed, its moisture and how well it is conditioned before it reaches the press.
| Model | Crushing capacity | Motor power | Oil left in meal |
|---|---|---|---|
| Optiflow 30 | Sized on request | Sized on request | Sized on request |
| Optiflow 40 | 10–11 TPD final press · 13–14 TPD pre-press | 30 kW × 960 rpm | 6–7% |
| Optiflow 50 | 11–12 TPD final press · 14–15 TPD pre-press | 50 HP × 960 rpm | 6–7% |
Products
The three Optiflow presses
The Optiflow 30, 40 and 50 are double-chamber machines. They differ in size, not in principle.
Oil expellers
Optiflow 40 screw press
Heavy-duty double-chamber screw press for multi-oilseed application
Crushing capacity10–11 TPD final press · 13–14 TPD pre-press
Motor power30 kW × 960 rpm
Oil expellers
Optiflow 50 screw press
Heavy-duty double-chamber screw press for multi-oilseed application
Crushing capacity11–12 TPD final press · 14–15 TPD pre-press
Motor power50 HP × 960 rpm
Related products
Complete the line
- All oil expeller machinesHow to size a press, and final press against pre-press.
- Optiflow 4010–11 TPD final press, 6–7% oil left in the meal.
- Optiflow 5011–12 TPD final press, the larger of the two published models.
- Worms, cage bars and cone partsThe wear parts both chambers run on, hard-faced in our works.
Questions buyers ask
Before you enquire
- What is a double-chamber oil expeller?
- A screw press whose cage is divided into two pressing stages. The second runs a tighter flight pitch than the first, so the cake is compressed twice before it reaches the cone choke, and more oil is released in a single pass through the machine.
- Does a double chamber mean the seed is pressed twice?
- Twice within one machine, in one pass — not two passes. The seed enters once and leaves once as cake. What happens twice is the compression, in the two stages of the same cage.
- Is a double-chamber expeller worth the extra cost?
- It depends on what the cake is worth to you. The machine earns the difference back through oil that would otherwise leave in the meal, so the higher the oil content of your seed and the more you crush per day, the faster that happens. Tell us your seed and tonnage and we will work it through with you rather than guess.
- Can a double-chamber press replace solvent extraction?
- No. A mechanical press of any kind leaves oil in the cake — 6–7% in our case on a conditioned seed. Solvent extraction takes that down to around 1%. On a low-oil seed such as soybean the press runs as a pre-press ahead of an extraction plant rather than instead of one.
Tell us your seed and capacity
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