Extraction

The Porto Corsini crushing plant site is used for oilseeds (soybeans, rapeseed and sunflower) that come from South and North America, by sea and land, from Italy and Eastern Europe.

To process the seeds called "soft seeds" (rape and sunflower), a mechanical pressing stage first separates out the first oil aliquot and then a oil extraction stage uses a solvent to separate out the remaining oil.

Soybeans, however, go through an initial preparation stage, in which the seeds, conditioned and in the form of flakes, are ground, and then they pass through the extraction stage in which the oil is separated from the seeds.

The oil, called "Colio crude", is subjected to a degumming stage in which the raw lecithins are separated out and then processed in the standardization process before being sold to customers.

The oil is stored in the tanks at the plant before being sold in bulk to customers, or being subjected to a further refining process.

The remaining part of the defatted seed flour is first roasted to remove any anti-nutritional elements contained in it. The next part of the process depends on the type of seed. Sunflower seeds are granulated, rapeseeds are ground, and soybeans are milled and fractionated through screens and air separators to produce flours with a high and low protein content.