Development of a novel, small scale cold screw press protocol for rapid soybean processing and coproduct evaluation

Authors: SUMIT - University Of Missouri; VARDHANABHUTI, BONGKOSH - University Of Missouri; Bilyeu, Kristin; Flint-Garcia, Sherry; WAN, CAIXIA - University Of Missouri; SOMAVAT, PAVEL - University Of Missouri

Submitted to: Food and Bioproducts Processing
Publication Type: Peer Reviewed Journal
Publication Acceptance Date: 5/9/2024
Publication Date: N/A
Citation: N/A

Interpretive Summary: Soybeans are an industrial crop typically processed at large scale into hull, oil, and meal fractions. Changes in soybean seed composition may extend the utilization of soybean, but challenges in smaller scale processing limit the characterization of soybeans with different seed composition attributes. The objective of this research was to develop and validate a small screw press protocol for rapid evaluation of small batches of soybean. The result was a new processing protocol that generated reliable small batch soybean products that retained the desired nutritional characteristics and were comparable to industrial samples in terms of final compositions. The impact of this research is a new small-scale protocol for the processing industry and academia that enables reliable, quick processing and efficient characterization of new soybean seed composition germplasm with limited seed supplies; the protocol can be used in product development, nutritional studies, in industrial standards and certification processes, and for cultivar evaluation and quality control.

Technical Abstract: The aim of this study was to develop a novel, small scale screw press protocol for rapid evaluation of newly developed soybean varieties with smaller sample sizes. Using commercially available and custom-made processing equipment, a highly repeatable 500 g lab-scale protocol was developed. Four experimental seed composition lines (V2070, V1328, V1515, V1810) and a commodity soybean variety (Patriot) were processed in triplicates three coproducts namely, Low fat pellets (LPF), High fat pellets (HPF) and oil were generated. The proposed protocol provided a robust methodology for evaluating the processing characteristics of soybean varieties with different seed composition characteristics with low standard deviations (<10%) and allowed valuable insights into the compositional properties of coproducts with small batches. The generated coproducts were thoroughly evaluated for their compositional characteristics (crude fat, crude protein, crude fiber, ash, and moisture content), fatty acid profiles (FA), amino acid profile (AA), peroxide value (PV), and thiobarbituric acid (TBA) values. Generated coproducts not only retained the desired nutritional characteristics present in raw soybean kernels but were also comparable to the industrial samples in terms of final compositions. The proposed 500 g cold press protocol can be a valuable tool for the soybean processing industry and academia, enabling quick processing and efficient characterization of newly developed soybean cultivars with limited sample sizes. Its application may span across diverse endeavors including new product development, nutritional studies, industrial standards and certification process, cultivar evaluation, and quality control.