Oil Extraction

How do you extract oil from oilseeds? There are several techniques for extracting oil from oilseeds. Two common oilseed extraction processes are solvent extraction and mechanical extraction using a screw press. Today in the United States, mechanical oil expression is not widely used due to low oil recovery.

Why do we grind the oilseeds before oil extraction? Most oilseeds (copra, palm kernels and groundnuts) need grinding in mills before oil extraction to increase the yields of oil. All oil-bearing materials need to have correct moisture content to maximize the oil yields. During the process of mechanical expression, the oil seeds are compressed in various types of compression devices/equipment.

What kind of seeds used to oil extraction?

• Soybean: Soybean, also referred to a soy or soya, is a legume. About 85% of the world’s soybeans are processed, or crushed, annually into soybean meal and vegetable oil. 
• Canola: Canola is a variety of rapeseed that was developed in the early 1970s by Canadian scientists using traditional plant breeding techniques to remove the anti-nutritional components from rapeseed to assure its safety for human and animal consumption.
• Cottonseed: The seed of the cotton plant, separated from the fiber of the cotton ball.
• Sunflower: This is a distinctive, flowering plant., with seeds containing a valuable edible oil, rich with Vitamin E. Most sunflower oil is used in food products though it is also used in the cosmetic market.  Confection sunflower seeds are also sold for human consumption and birdseed.
• Peanut: Peanuts, or “groundnuts” are the edible seeds of a legume, Arachis hypogaea, and they are high in protein, oil and fiber.
• Corn: Corn, Zea mays L., is a cereal crop, a member of the grass family. Corn is grown throughout the world and is one of the globe’s most widely used food staples.
• Mustard, flaxseed, linseed, safflower, jatropha, grape seed, moringa seed, marigold, paprika seed, walnut meats, hemp seed, cuphea seed, lesquerella seed, vernonia seed, corn germ foots, bagasse, apricot kernels, coffee beans, chili peppers, cherry pits, peach pits, potato chips