Flaking mill OLFC
Getting more from every oilseed
The demands placed on modern oilseed processors are high. Production has to run around the clock. Every oilseed must be used to its full potential. Quality needs to be consistent. Bühler’s new OLFC flaking mill was designed together with customers to address all these challenges.
Janet Anderson, September 2026
In oilseed processing, the scale of operations means that even the smallest differences in how oilseeds are processed have a significant impact on yield. Flaking – the process of pressing oilseeds into thin flakes – plays a key role because the thickness and variation in the thickness of the flakes heavily influence the efficacy of downstream oil extraction. As processing lines run continuously, and each flaker handles up to 500 tonnes of material per day, they must be robust, precise, and user-friendly.
Bühler’s new OLFC oilseed flaker was specifically developed to meet these requirements. Building on proven flaking technology, it was developed by a team from Bühler working in close collaboration with customers, incorporating their feedback to drive improvements. Thanks to this collaboration, the result is a flaker that is more efficient and reliable in daily operation, even during peak loads.
The improvements start with the size of the rolls themselves. “Traditionally in the oilseed industry, rolls are 800 millimeters in diameter. The OLFC rolls are 820 millimeters with an increased usable diameter, meaning they can be used two and a half times longer. A sturdier frame and dampening reduce vibration by up to 25 percent. This maximizes their usable life,” says Abdulqadir Abshir, Product Manager for the OLFC at Bühler.
The team not only optimized the machine design; they also designed it to work differently from competitors’ flakers. A mechanical end stop added to the hydraulic system ensures that variations in the hardness of oilseeds do not lead to variation in the thickness of the flakes because the OLFC optimizes for roll gap distance, not roll pressure.
We forecast a roll lifetime increase of 150%, significantly affecting the total cost of ownership for our customers.
Abdulqadir Abshir,
Product Manager at Bühler
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Efficient and easy to use
Energy efficiency is also a major factor for oil processors. Instead of using the typical V-belt for the main drive, the OLFC is equipped with a timing belt. “This eliminates slippage and increases efficiency by up to four percent compared to the V-belt,” says Lukas Spannagl, R&D Project Manager at Bühler.
Ease of operation is equally important for efficient and safe production. On the OLFC, five easily accessible sampling ports simplify quality control while the machine is running. It also has a more user-friendly interface with a touchscreen displaying a graphical representation of the machine and its most operation-relevant components. “Operators can see at a glance what's happening in the process,” says Abshir. “Color coding shows whether it is running as it should or if something needs to be reviewed.”
Just as critically, the OLFC has been designed to be easy to maintain. Oil processors need to carry out maintenance on their rolls on average three times a year. With the OLFC, operators can use the newly designed auxiliary drive accessory to slow down the roll speed to optimize roll maintenance operations. The procedure of fitting third-party auxiliary drives to flakers can take customers up to two hours. The Bühler team came up with an auxiliary drive that works out-of-the-box and reduces roll speed by the amount necessary. “It takes a minute and 30 seconds to install,” says Spannagl. “Two hours saved in fitting the auxiliary drive means that the flaker is back in operation two hours earlier. This represents another 41 tonnes of production.”
To make maintenance more predictable, sensors provide continuous data on roll speed and hydraulic pressure. A roll temperature sensor measures the temperature profile along the length of the roll, helping operators to identify uneven use of the rolls as well as hot spots caused by foreign objects. Vibration sensors provide a precise assessment of roll condition and help determine the optimal time for regrinding. This allows production teams to schedule maintenance activities effectively. They can also consolidate data from multiple flakers to compare performance. Using the Oilseed Process Intelligence insights dashboard, they can monitor long-term trends.
Watch this video to learn more about the OLFC oilseed flaker
Benefitting from wide experience
Mechanical upgrades and software and usability design changes have all been validated in the field over the past two years. “For us, it was vital to understand the value creation from the customer perspective,” says Abshir. “We listened closely to what the customers needed and to the insights they got from the data. All this fed into the new design.”
The OLFC benefits not only from customer input but also from Bühler’s own process know-how from flaking machines all over the world and at different customer sites. All this experience was built into the new machine.
“Our aim throughout the development of the OLFC was to help oil processors make more from every oilseed,” says Spannagl.
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