How do they extract kernels from sunflower seeds in mass production?
Every time I seed a gunny sack of sunflower seed kernels in a supermarket, I wonder how they are extracted from their seeds. It is very difficult to extract even one of them by hand without smashing its kernels, I really wonder the process that extracts mass of them.
How do they do it? Is there a documentary or Youtube video about it?
Best Answer
By using a dehuller machine. See: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-hegzzj9Rzk or http://www.buhlergroup.com/global/en/products/dehuller-dgba.htm
How does a dehuller work? I don't know, but it seems that Google does:
The most popular decorticator for sunflower is proposed by the Bühler Cie. It consists in a rotating blade that propels the seeds by centrifuge force against a wall. It functions on one impact. It is designed for partial removal of hulls because due to its principle, it is not able to carry out a good dehulling without increasing the force of the impact. The kernel oil content is so high in sunflower that under the violence of he chock, some oil can be transferred to the hulls and is lost. Moreover, increasing the rotating speed of such dehuller drives to increase the production of fines that are difficult to separates from hulls. Another mono-chock kind of dehuller is air-jet impact where the propelling of the seeds is done by a strong current of air. Multi-chocks dehullers like the Ripple mill improve the dehulling quality because they carry out several impacts on the achene with milder violence and enable en enhanced separation of hulls without generating an excess of fines.
See: http://www.creol.fr/CTMSite/creol/us/travaux/img/dehulling_3.pdf
See also: http://www.buhlergroup.com/northamerica/downloads/DGBA_Sunflower_Dehuller.pdf for some schematics of the inside of the machine and some insights about the way it works.
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Quick Answer about "How do they extract kernels from sunflower seeds in mass production?"
How do they Mass peel sunflower seeds?
Working principle of commercial sunflower seed dehuller machine: After the equipment is in normal operation, the sunflower seeds are uniformly and continuously put into the hopper. The sunflower seeds are broken under the action of the rotor, and then separated by the skin kernel sorting and screening machine.How do you shell sunflower seeds in bulk?
Here's an easy method to shell sunflower seeds in bulk:How are sunflower seeds harvested and prepared?
Hang the sunflower heads up somewhere to dry more and wait to remove the seeds until you need them. You might want to put a burlap bag around them to catch any seeds that fall off as they dry. Rub the dried seed heads over a coarse wire screen that is on top of a bucket. The seeds will fall out into the bucket.Complete sunflower kernel processing line
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Answer 2
Just to visualize a bit Raco's answer. There is a scheme of the Buhler machine provided by Buhler Group.
In the brochure from here (but not well explained).
Also, oilseed processing machine looks similar: https://www.buhlergroup.com/content/buhlergroup/global/en/industries/Oilseed.html
This is not an answer actually, just a few more links to investigate the topic.
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