Tuesday, May 15, 2018

Day 8--UCEL & Soybean Crushing Pilot Plant

UCEL Soybean Crushing Pilot Plant
Today our group had the opportunity to tour around UCEL (La Universidad del Centro Educativo Latinoamericano) and learn not only about the university, but also some insight into bean crushing facilities.  We were fortunate enough to be accompanied by Dr. Leticia Bourges and Dr. José Gerde, who is a former Iowa State graduate! Although we are in a different country, it is interesting to spend time with someone that has spent a fair amount of time in Iowa and Argentina as well.  We learned that UCEL is a private university which means students must pay for tuition. If a student were to go to a public university, tuition is free. Although there is added costs, UCEL was able to start a Pilot Plant for a soybean crushing facility which would’ve taken many more years had it been a public university. UCEL has various locations and offers degrees in the college of chemistry, economy and business, law and social sciences,  e-learning, and Wesley Institute.

We were welcomed very warmly by the University!

In the morning, we toured UCEL and listened to a lecture on processing soybeans and how important the industry is to Argentina.  Argentina has invested heavily in value-added processes before exporting their soybeans. Most of these processing facilities are near Rosario because of its close proximity to the Parana river.  Rosario is the farthest city up-river that ocean-going vessels can travel, making it a hub for soybean product exports.

In the afternoon, we were able to explore in more detail the processing of soybeans, and the different methods for extracting the oil from the bean. The two methods of soybean crushing are mechanical extraction and hexane extraction.  The UCEL pilot facility has the capability to do both of these methods and complete small batches to run tests on different varieties of soybeans. The plant is in partnership with the Bunge processing facility, which has a full scale plant next door.  The pilot plant has the ability to crush about 3 tonnes of soybeans per day, whereas a full scale plant is able to crush 10,000 to 20,000 tonnes per day, but the processes for both are the same. From beginning to end, the entire process takes about 1.5 hours for both the pilot and full scale plants.  From the mechanical oil extraction, the leftover cake contains approximately 8 to 10% oil, and from the hexane extraction, less than one percent of the remaining cake is oil. The remains of the soybeans after the oil is extracted can be used to feed ruminant animals because the rumen has the ability to break down the fatty acids, whereas a monogastric would not have the ability to process them.  The pilot plant is very well equipped in terms of fire prevention and new technologies. One goal the plant has is to add a teaching facility on site to teach UCEL students about soybean processing with hands-on experience.
Soybeans after different stages of processing

In the evening, we had the opportunity to sit in on a sensory analysis class.  The class focuses on using sight, smell, taste, and touch to analyze foods. We were able to evaluate honey in the class.  We rated it based on odor type, odor intensity, color, crystal size and frequency, fluidity, and other qualities. After smelling and tasting the honey, we listened to student presentations on honey in Argentina.  Although Argentina is a leading producer of honey, most of it is exported. They also touched on where consumers are getting their honey from and how frequently they eat it. For a country that produces so much of it, a large portion of the population does not consume it for various reasons.  We also got to try some delicious honey products and homemade honey treats that the students made--if only every class was like this one!
Sensory analysis of honey




--Sara and Ryan

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