Oil provision

Vegetable oils are produced from the oil containing parts of the crops. Oil mills either press the seeds, kernels or fruits or extract the oil with the help of an extraction agent (e.g. hexan). Before pressing or extraction, usually a pre-treatment of the agricultural commodities has to be carried out. This may include one or more of the following processes:

• Cleaning from impurities like stones, sand or organic contaminants like animal bodies etc.
• Deshelling of fruits, kernels with shells
• Crushing by roller mills or jaw crusher to destruct the cell structure of the seeds
• Conditioning with steam to adjust the moisture content and to heat the material up for a more efficient oil removal

Animal fats have to be pre-treated before biodiesel production because they often contain free fatty acids and water, which lower the biofuel quality. Therefore, an acid-catalyzed esterification has to be carried out before biofuel production.