Step 2 - The Washing of the Olives

From the hopper, a conveyor belt carries the olives in small, manageable loads into the washing tank. The conveyor belt drops the olives across a blower similar to that at the end of the conveyor belt on the Kilby receiver.

Lighter materials like leaves and twigs will be blown out of the system here while the heavier olives will pass through the blown air and into the tank.

The washed olives will then pass down one last grate, across one last screen, and into the awaiting hopper.

Step 3 - Crushing, Slicing, and Mixing

The freshly washed olives are next conveyed to the hammermill where they will pass through a series of hammers that will crush them into a fine paste.

The paste that is created by the hammermill then falls into the malaxer, where it is mixed by two corkscrews.

The paste, or mash, will be mixed for approximately one hour. While it is mixing, the mash warms naturally. The water and oil in the mash begin to separate from the flesh of the olive. The top corkscrews in the malaxer pushes the mash back toward the front of the tank while a smaller corkscrew at the bottom pushes it forward.