Air Pollution Abatement Facilities at Soybean Processing Plants

Soybean processing plants are typical of facilities in which solvent extraction is the major unit operation employed. Hexane solvent is used to treat soybeans, producing both a vegetable oil and a residue meal product. The hexane solvent is separated from the oil and the meal, recycled and used again in a closed loop fashion. At several points in the process vent streams are produced resulting in the atmospheric discharge of hexane vapor. This represents an air pollution problem and facilities are required to eliminate the problem. An economic analysis of pollution abatement requirements for soybean plants indicates that thermal incineration is the optimum system that can be used. However, at high levels of hexane content in the vent streams, a combination of activated carbon adsorption of the smaller stream plus thermal incineration of the larger stream should prove the most desirable form of pollution abatement. The analysis given in this report can be used to determine which pollution abatement system should be used, depending upon the hexane content of the vent streams.