Buhler replaces old crushing plant
Buhler has replaced the entire old oilseed crushing/flaking plant at Continental Oil Mills, Randfontein, South Africa, with state-of-the-art new equipment.
The project was interesting to the Buhler engineers because it involved
replacing equipment which had been installed in the 1970s with modern, more
productive Buhler equipment.
The equipment in the new facility has been
designed to be able to process either sunflower seeds or soybeans. Sunflower
seeds are dehulled for the extraction of the kernels, whereas soybeans are
cracked with a roller for extraction.
Begun four years ago, it has been
the largest oil mill project to be done in Southern Africa for a number of
years. Toni Kolb, sales manager for Buhler in Southern Africa, says however that
a number of operators in the region are now considering projects because of
ongoing high international market prices for oil.
He explains that when
international edible oil prices are low – as they were before 2006 – oil milling
companies would often simply import crude oil and refine it, leaving their
crushers/mills idle.
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