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By Al Kurki, Janet There are many varieties of seeds and nuts that can produce oils for food, nutraceuticals, skincare prod-
Bachmann and Holly ucts, aromatherapies, fuels and industrial lubricants. This publication describes the basic processes
Hill, NCAT Agriculture involved in oil processing including seed cleaning, extraction, clarication, packaging and storage.
Specialists Sources for more information and equipment are included in the References and Resources sections
Lakeitha Run and at the end of the publication.
Byrhonda Lyons,
NCAT Interns
Matt Rudolf, plant-derived oils can be used to make soap,
Piedmont Biofuels body and hair oils, detergents and paints.
Cooperative Some can also be used to make industrial
2008 NCAT lubricants. A wide range of oilseeds and
other oil-producing plants are high-quality
Contents feedstocks for biodiesel. Oilseed processing
Introduction ..................... 1 expands the use of crops such as sunowers
Getting started ............... 1 and brings value to grape seeds, which are
Basic processing usually waste products.
steps ................................... 2
Oilseed by-products:
Most oil processing in the United States
Meal and hulls ................ 6 is done on a large industrial scale. Small-
Adding value scale oil extraction is more commonplace in
adds costs ......................... 7 other parts of the world. As a result, many
References ........................ 9 of the useful resource materials and much
Resources .......................... 9 of the appropriate-scale machinery come
from other countries. However, interest in
small- to intermediate-scale oilseed process-
ing on the part of farmers and others in the
United States grew dramatically in the past
Photo courtesy Sustainable Systems, LLC
ve years. This publication describes the
Saower oil. basic processes of oilseed production, with
extensive sources for additional information
Introduction and equipment.
Farmers and small business owners are
asking if it is possible and protable to add Getting started
value to their seeds and nuts by extract- Culinary oil businessman and consultant
ing the oil. This is not an easy question to E. Peter Matthies, now living in Germany,
answer because there are so many vari- suggests that you ask yourself the following
ATTRANational Sustainable ables, some of which are noted in the fol- questions before starting oil processing:
Agriculture Information Service lowing sections of this publication.
is managed by the National Cen- Why do I want to start oil processing?
ter for Appropriate Technology
(NCAT) and is funded under a
Culinary oils include olive, sesame, saf- Will it be a hobby or a new economic
grant from the United States f lower, sunf lower, grape seed, canola, enterprise?
Department of Agricultures Rural
Business-Cooperative Service.
apricot kernel, coconut, hazelnut, peanut,
Visit the NCAT Web site (www. pumpkin and walnut oils. Advertisements How big will the operation be?
ncat.org/sarc_current.
php) for more informa-
for these culinary oils tout their health How many different products will be
tion on our sustainable benets and unique avors. Some of these made, including both oil and the press
agriculture projects.
cake left after the oil is pressed out of Clean. Fine dust in the seed may clog
the raw seeds or nuts? the oil press hardware. Chaff left in the
Do I want to target mass markets or spe- seed will absorb some of the oil and
cialty markets? keep it from getting squeezed out of the
expeller. Sand in the seed will wear out
What geographical area do I want to the press. Stones damage the oil press
cover? screw or piston.
The rst question is important because it Dry. Moist seed leads to low yields and
affects the answers to all the other ques- clogs the screw or cage, a part of the
tions. It even affects how you read this pub- press. Moist seed may also get moldy, as
lication. If you crush oilseeds for biodiesel mold spores are present in all crops. A
or straight vegetable oil fuel production, you rule of thumb is that the moisture content
need to pay special attention to several spe- of the seed should be close to 10 per-
cic processing steps. cent. The number varies considerably for
For culinary oils, there are several more specic oilseeds. For example, rapeseed
processing steps and technologies to con- should be dried to a 7-percent moisture
sider and possibly add to your plan. You content, camelina to about 6 percent and
may forego some of the more complex, sunower to 8.5 percent. Safower needs
costly steps for exclusively personal-use only to be dried to 11 percent and soy-
cooking oil or biofuel. bean is safe for storage and processing at
12 percent (Alam, 2007).
Later in this publication, Matthies describes
how he got into this new oil business after There are at least two methods of testing
retiring from the petroleum business. seed moisture levels. Hand-held moisture
testers allow the user to simply place the
seed in the tester, turn it on and select
Basic processing steps the type of seed to test. The tester pro-
vides an instant readout. These testers
Seed cleaning cost from $400 to $700. Brand names
Preparation of the raw material often include DICKEY-johns mini GAC, the
includes removing husks or seed coats Graintec HE-50 and GE Sensings Pro-
from the seeds and separating the seeds timeter Grainmaster.
from the chaff. There are a wide variety of
This canola seed will small- to intermediate-scale approaches to Here is a lower-tech, low-cost way of
need very little cleaning and technologies for effective seed clean- moisture testing: Weigh a sample of
before crushing.
ing. Approaches range from seed, and then heat the sample in an
using various sizes of hard- oven at 300 degrees Fahrenheit for one
ware cloth screens in tandem hour. Reweigh the sample. The weight
(Clothier) to using a compact lost in the oven is equal to the moisture
fanning mill such as the Clip- content of the original sample. Calculate
per Ofce Tester and a spi- the percentage by dividing the weight
ral separator for small farms lost by the original weight and multiply-
(Small Scale Grain and Pulse ing the result by 100.
Production forum, 2008). Even dry seed can quickly get damp by
See the Resources sec- being in contact with damp earth. Once
tion for examples, types and the seed is dried and bagged, it must be
sources of equipment. carefully stored to keep it from absorbing
moisture.
Seed preparation and Warm. Warm seed will yield the most
conditioning oil for the least effort. The optimum heat
For successful pressing, the range for oil extraction is from 100 to
Photo by Holly Hill, NCAT seed must be: 160 degrees. There are several ways to
Oil expellers
There are many manufac-
turers of single-cylinder
presses. Most presses are
sold in European countries
and designed primarily for
rapeseed, or canola. For
www.attra.ncat.org ATTRA Page 3
Some advantages and disadvantages of each Photo courtesy Ken DeBoer.
type of press are:
Single cylinder:
Advantages:
Simple to use and adjust for multiple
feedstocks
Designed for continuous use
Easier to unclog if it gets backed up,
which happens occasionally
Works quite well out of the box.
Disadvantages:
Not for use for large, industrial-scale
presses due to the very large pressure This 1-ton press was too small and slow for what its
owner planned for it.
generated on the press head
Expensive are too small for what is needed to produce
Cage style: biodiesel or straight vegetable oil fuel on an
Advantages: average Montana grain farm.
Less expensive for small and large elec-
tric-driven presses Solvent extraction of oil
The expeller of choice for larger capaci- Oils can also be extracted with solvents, but
ties of more than 3 tons per day solvent extraction is a complex and costly
Disadvantages: operation. Solvent extraction isnt suited for
Difcult to adjust for different sizes of small-scale processing because of high cap-
seeds ital and operating costs, risks due to re
Needs more constant monitoring and explosions from solvents, and the sheer
complexity. Management of solvents such as
Note: Reports from farmers who bought hexane is a problem as well (Principles of
certain imported Chinese models included Oil Extraction).
lower than expected quality and consider-
able setup time. They may need new parts
or motor upgrades to function properly. Clarication
Clarication removes contaminants such as
If you want to process larger amounts of oil- ne pulp, water and resins. You can clarify
seed crops, a 3-ton to 10-ton per day cage oil by allowing it to sit undisturbed for a few
press may be what you want. You can also
days and then removing the upper layer. If
link multiple cylinder presses in tandem to
the oil needs further clarication, lter the
perform the same function. Another option
oil through a ne lter cloth. Finally, you
is the Instapro press, which is a semi-indus-
can heat the oil to drive off traces of water
trial-scale press available in the 20-ton per
and destroy any bacteria. Very clean oil is
day capacity.
important in all uses, including biodiesel.
Both cylinder and cage presses have signi-
cant electrical requirements. Any press with Degumming
a capacity over 3 tons per day will likely
Degumming is the process of removing the
require three-phase power and smaller
phospholipids from the oil. Many people
presses require 220-volt power.
advise that you allow the resulting oil to settle
Choosing the correct size of press for what out the gums, or hydratables, over a period
you intend to do is very important. For of one to two weeks. However, you need
example, Montana farmers experiences led more chemical processing to make high-qual-
to the conclusion that 1-ton per day presses ity culinary oil or biodiesel feedstock.
Saower meal, mechanical extraction 91.9 23.5 7.2 56.1 .55 .25 NG .26 .66
Saower meal, solvent extraction 92 25.4 1.1 57 .55 .29 41 .37 .81
Soybean meal, mechanical extraction 90.7 46.7 5.2 84.9 .94 .62 NG .31 .65
poisons from moldy seed will end up in the Adding value adds costs
oil, but most remain in the seed cake. The
Although value-added processing can be a
toxins can also get into the meat, eggs and
way to increase a farmers share of the farm
especially the milk of the animals that eat
product dollar, adding value doesnt come
the cake.
free. At each step, one is adding more work,
Rancidity is another shelf-life issue for oil- buying additional equipment and supplies
seed cake. Shelf life of meal is most affected and using more energy. Information needs
by the content of unsaturated fatty acids increase. Wholesaling or retailing culi-
and the content of antioxidants such as vita- nary oil will require nutritional labeling.
min E and derivatives. Unsaturated fatty And depending upon the situation, liability
acids, such as omega-3s, decrease the shelf insurance may become a must.
life. Antioxidants increase shelf life. Stor-
age, temperature, humidity, moisture con- A key point to remember is that adding
tent and seed type are also important factors value to any foods by processing increases
to consider. For example, camelina and ax safety risks due to the increased handling.
both have high concentrations of omega-3 Therefore, rules and regulations are estab-
fatty acids. However, camelina meal con- lished by each state to protect public health.
tains higher concentrations of vitamin E and In addition, the Food and Drug Administra-
subsequently has a longer shelf life than ax tion regulates products going out of state.
meal. Canola oil contains less unsaturated Anyone considering processed foods as a
fat than camelina oil. Subsequently, canola value-added business should contact their
meal is more stable (Pilgeram, 2008). state health department before proceeding.
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