When you factor in all the dedicated equipment, specialized expertise, skilled labor, and regulatory certifications required to run a solvent extraction plant, oilseed processing can be quite expensive. That’s why many companies outsource the intricacies of extraction by leveraging toll processing services instead.
By partnering with a toll processing facility like ENAT INTERNATIONAL, your company can quickly scale production and test new specialty oilseed products without the overhead costs, risks, or steep learning curves of in-house extraction.
Let’s take a closer look at the toll processing services offered by Anderson’s partners at ENAT INTERNATIONAL and explore how this model might benefit your operation.
What is toll processing?
Toll processing is a model in which a company pays a third-party plant to process raw materials into byproducts that meet certain specifications. Toll processing services can help companies fill critical production gaps, particularly if they don’t have the capacity, equipment, or specialized knowledge to do it themselves. This arrangement leverages the toll processor’s specialized equipment, labor, and production capabilities — saving other companies from the capital expenditures required to start up or scale up their own production.
Specifically, in the oilseed processing industry, toll processing services might include seed milling and grinding, seed drying, extrusion, mechanical pressing, solvent extraction, or crude oil refining. These services are offered on a contract basis to support companies that cannot perform each step on their own — especially when it comes to specialty oilseeds that require specialized processing systems.
ENAT’s toll processing services
With more than 40 years of experience extracting a variety of oilseeds using both mechanical and chemical extraction, ENAT INTERNATIONAL offers a full spectrum of toll processing services from initial concept to final formulation.
“Basically, customers come to us with an idea of what they want to extract, and we help them develop the idea from the lab all the way through production,” says Fernando Posada, ENAT founder and managing director. “Anything that’s needed, related to the extraction of a natural product, we can do it in-house.”
Specifically, ENAT’s toll processing services include:
- Lab bench scale testing to perform detailed analyses of new products and optimize existing processes. ENAT’s lab is equipped for analytical tests like high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC), gas chromatography (GC), and more — plus partnerships with other external laboratories that enable customers to perform additional analysis beyond ENAT’s facilities.
- Pilot plant capabilities that allow customers to test out new products or processes at a small scale before advancing to full-scale production. ENAT’s facilities are set up to enable simultaneous, independent processing of various products without the risk of cross-contamination.
- Solvent extraction systems that feature Anderson’s Solvex™ Expander to optimize oil recovery while reducing solvent hold-up. ENAT’s solvent extraction capabilities include both immersion extraction, in which solid oilseed material is fully submerged in a solvent bath to dissolve the oil, and percolation extraction, in which fresh solvent repeatedly passes through a bed of solid material. ENAT’s continuous immersion extraction plant can process up to 10 tons per day, while its percolation batch extraction system can process up to 7 tons per day.
- Downstream processing services including clay bleaching, filtration, distillation for solvent recovery, cake grinding, material storage, and analytical product testing.
Through all of these toll processing services, ENAT INTERNATIONAL’s main objective is the quality and safety of its products. To that end, ENAT holds ISO 22000 certification, meeting international food safety management system standards. This regulatory compliance gives ENAT’s customers confidence by demonstrating a commitment to food safety throughout processing.
The benefits of toll processing
By leveraging ENAT INTERNATIONAL’s toll processing services, oilseed companies can leverage decades of established extraction expertise before making significant capital investments to acquire their own equipment, personnel, permits, and certifications. This allows you to develop specialty oilseed products and test your market viability before building or expanding your solvent extraction plant.
Some of the most significant benefits of partnering with a toll processor include:
- Reduced investment cost: The fee or “toll” that a processing partner like ENAT charges is significantly lower than the cost of building a new processing plant with state-of-the-art extraction equipment and experienced personnel — which could cost millions of dollars. In a toll partnership, the seed owner simply pays a fixed rate per ton, avoiding the overhead costs and risks of running their own plant.
- Scalable efficiency: Toll processing services enable companies to venture into new markets, test out new products, and ramp up production quickly without making huge commitments. Instead of building a dedicated production line with additional equipment for each type of oilseed being extracted, companies can tap into the resources of established processors like ENAT to efficiently extract a wide variety of seeds.
- Increased flexibility: Since different types of oilseeds require diverse processing steps and equipment, toll processors can help companies unlock the capabilities to extract a full spectrum of seeds and other natural products. This is especially valuable for companies that just want to process small runs of niche specialty oilseeds, since the cost of building a solvent extraction plant is typically only justified by running high volumes.
Expand your extraction capabilities
From its strategic location in Mexico, ENAT INTERNATIONAL has the capabilities to service all types of oilseed clientele worldwide by conveniently importing and exporting products to offer a full range of on-demand toll processing services. Specializing in services for international nutraceutical and pharmaceutical end-providers, ENAT is committed to the highest quality in every batch of natural specialty products it extracts.
To learn more about the advantages that a partnership with ENAT can provide, visit their website at www.enatinter.com or contact the company directly at 52-464-647-1556 or [email protected].