Biodiesel Production

Part 1: Oil Extraction

Energy Practice Course SS 2016

Submitted By:
Indrajeet Desai
Iqbal Meskinzada
Supervisor:

Matriculation #: 2269333
Matriculation #: 2267570

Table of Contents
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.

Summary ..3
Introduction and scope of work ...3
Theory...4
Feedstocks and chemicals.6
Experimental set-up..6
Execution of the experiment 6
Results...7
Discussion.8
References

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) |Biodiesel production experiment

1. Summary
Rapeseed or rapeseed oil is the most common feedstock for producing biodiesel. The purpose of
this experiment is to analyse and discuss the process of producing rapeseed oil from raw seeds
through the process of pressing which is done mechanically. The outcome is compared to the
theoretical values. The amount of oil (28%) extracted from rapeseeds is satisfactory despite some
minor losses occurred during the experiment.

2. Introduction and scope of work

The experiment described in this text was executed in the laboratories of the Hamburg University
of Applied Sciences (HAW Hamburg) on 12/04/2016, under the structure of the Energy Practice
laboratory course as part of the Masters programme in Renewable Energy Systems.
This experiment is the first of two experiments, which involve the production of crude oil from
rapeseeds and subsequently the trans-esterification of it which results in the production of
biodiesel. The first part of biodiesel production is oil extraction, which is the goal of this
experiment and will thus be elaborated in this report.
Biodiesel refers to fatty acid methyl esters (FAME), which are nothing but a group of esterified
vegetable oils. The vegetable oils are produced from various oil-containing crops such as
rapeseed and sunflower.
The report consists of seven major sections which mainly cover
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.

the theoretical basics required for the execution of the experiment

feedstocks and chemicals that are part of the experiment
the experimental set-up
execution of the experiment
obtained results
discussions regarding the results
list of references used for the purpose of writing this report

The topic of biodiesel production is a very interesting prospect amid other renewables, as we
move away from conventional non-renewable energy sources for fulfilling the primary energy
demand of the world. Biodiesel can help to provide a secure supply of liquid transport fuels,
reduce reliance on conventional petroleum fuels and create an environment-friendly fuel for
diesel engines.
For this experiment, rapeseed was selected and converted to rape seed oil by employing the use
of a screw extruder. The resulting crude oil from the extrusion process cannot directly be used in
conventional diesel engines due to its fuel properties at this stage. The fuel properties of the
crude oil are to be adjusted by trans-esterification which will make it suitable for use in
conventional diesel engines. However, this a is part of the second experiment and therefore shall
not be emphasised here. The screw extruder used for this experiment is the Vegetable Oil Press
P500R from Anton Fries Maschinenbau GmbH.

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) |Biodiesel production experiment

The experiment begins with the greasing of the various parts of the screw extruder, followed by
assembly of the extruder. The extruder is pre-heated (to 70oC) prior to its operation. The
rapeseed is then added into the feed hopper and the pressing begins. The oil and the remainder of
the rapeseed are collected separately in containers. Upon completion of pressing, the extruder is
switched off, disassembled and then cleaned. The collected crude oil is filtered (by means of a
125m filter paper) to separate the lee from the crude oil. This filtered crude oil will be used for
the second part of biodiesel production.
3. Theory:
Extraction of oil from rapeseed can proceed by one of the following processes: direct screw
pressing, direct solvent extraction, and pre-press solvent extraction. The pre-press solvent
extraction process is a classical system of processing rapeseed in which the seed is initially
expelled under pressure to release a portion of the available oil; and the residue is than solvent
extracted. This method is still used by many oil producing manufacturers, with some
modifications, such as pretreatment of rapeseeds. Pre-press solvent extraction is probably one of
the most economical processes. Figure (1) shows the flow process for oil extraction.

Figure (1): Oil extraction process from rapeseeds by method of Pre-press extraction

1. Seed cleaning: Current rapeseed cleaning equipment typically consists of three basic steps:
aspiration, screen separation to remove oversized particles, and screen separation to remove
undersized particles. Most equipment can provide all three steps in a single unit.
2. Preconditioning: Preheating the whole seed prior to processing (to about 30-40(C) by indirect
heating or direct hot air contact. This process improves flaking, screw pressing capacity, cake
formation, extractability, and hexane recovery from the extracted canola flakes.
3. Flaking: In colder climates, many crushing plants use grain dryers to preheat the seed and
prevent shattering as seed enters the flaking unit. The cleaned seed is first flaked by roller mills
set for a narrow clearance to physically rupture the seed coat. The objective is to rupture as many
cell walls as possible without damaging the quality of the oil. Optimum flake thickness is
0.3- 0.38 mm. Flakes thinner than 0.2 mm are very fragile while flakes thicker than 0.4 mm
result in lower oil yield.
Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) |Biodiesel production experiment

4. Cooking: Rapeseed flakes are heated in a stacked cooker (at about 75-85(C).
5. Screw pressing: This step is obtained to remove 60% - 70% of the oil from rapeseed flakes,
and to compress the small fragile rapeseed flakes into a more dense and durable cake to facilitate
good solvent contact and percolation in the extractor.
6. Solvent extraction: Further extraction of oil seeds and press cake with hexane. After this the
hexane-saturated meal leaving the solvent extractor contains less than 1% oil.
7. Desolventizing: Removal of hexane solvent from the extracted cake.
8. Distillation: Hexane recovery from rapeseed oil.
9. Degumming: Removal of rapeseed phosphatides or gums, and free moisture, cooling of dry
oil and then transfer to the refining process or into a storage.
In general, a pre-press system followed by solvent extraction may be an option when the oilseed
contains more than about 23% oil. This combination combines the best of each system: the
pressing operation removes the higher percentages of oil which are by far the easiest to squeeze
out of the solids, and the solvent extraction process is best at removing oil from about 20% down
to near %. In Figure 1, it is worth noting that a plant to process rapeseed with pre-pressing
followed by extraction will often reduce the oil content from about 40% to 20% in the presses
and from 20% to 0.8% in extraction, and that (after adjustments for moisture changes during the
process) the press oil produced may be roughly 25.8% of the raw seed, while the extraction oil
may be about 13.7% of the raw seed. The following flowchart depicts the biodiesel production
on industrial scale which will be explained in part 2 of the experiment.

Figure (2): Industrial biodiesel production process flowchart

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) |Biodiesel production experiment

4. Feedstocks and chemicals

In this experiment 260g of rapeseed has been used as intake material. Rapeseed is the most
widely used material for producing biodiesel. The oil content of the seed ranges from 33.2 to
47.6% (8.5% moisture basis) and yields 29.5 to 57.5% protein (oil-free/defatted meal, 8.5%
moisture basis). In the next part of the experiment, physical and chemical properties of the
rapeseed oil, produced in this part, will be discussed.

5. Experimental Set up:

In this experiment rapeseed is used for oil production. After the lubrication of the parts , the
screw extruder P500R Anton Fries corporation parts needs to be carefully assembled. The
pressing cylinder will be inserted into the shaft and screwed tightly into the gadget and the crown needs
to be positioned such that it is 4mm from it is fully tight position. Adjust the heater band in to the
cylinder for the purpose of heating. The pressed oil will be leaving the cylinder frontal side
through a bunch of holes.
Before pressing, the front part of the screw extruder must be preheated through the heating band.
Therefore the heating band is switched on and the thermocouple needs to be positioned
appropriately to read temperature. At least 70 C should be reached. It takes about 10 minutes to
reach this temperature. Meanwhile, the direction of rotation may be tested. Therefore the screw
extruder needs to be switched on briefly. A negative value should appear on the display.
Furthermore, four containers have been used for storing the produced oil, residue or remainder,
filtered oil and rapeseed container. To capture the oil flow rate a container has been positioned at
the end of the splash guard over a weight-measuring device. All the containers have been
weighed in empty and filled conditions.

6. Execution of the experiment

Approximately 60 g of crude oil is needed for the second part of the experiment. Considering the
oil content of the rapeseed (40% on average) and losses during the pressing process, 260g of
rapeseed is used in the experiment in order to produce the expect result.
After measuring 70C in the extrusion die, pressing may be started and rapeseed can be filled in
the feed hopper. At the beginning of the pressing, a soft and oily output stream is to be expected,
which will turn harder and drier during the process. The oil mass flow rate has been measured
each 10s by weighing the oil container. The pressing is finished if there is no more recovery of
oil/residue. After the pressing process the produced oil must be filtered to separate the lee.

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) |Biodiesel production experiment

7. Result
Time

Oil Container
Weight

Time

Oil Container
Weight

10

440

50.1

20

0
0
0
0
0
0
3.8
9
12.9
16.5
19.3
22.1
23.7
25.4
26.9
28.2
29.6
30.5
31.9
33
34.1
35.1
36
36.9
37.8
38.7
39.6
40.3
41.2
42
42.7
43.3
44
44.7
45.1
45.7
46.3
47
47.5
48
48.6
49.1

450

50.6
51
51.7
52.1
52.4
52.8
53.3
53.8
54.3
54.7
64
64.3
64.6
64.8
65
65.5
65.8
66.1
66.3
66.6
66.9
67.2
67.4
67.7
67.8
68.1
68.4
68.9
69.3
69.7
70
70.3
70.6
70.9
71.2
71.4
71.5
71.7
71.8
72
72.2
72.3

30
40
50
60
70
80
90
100
110
120
130
140
150
160
170
180
190
200
210
220
230
240
250
260
270
280
290
300
310
320
330
340
350
360
370
380
390
400
410
420
430

460
470
480
490
500
510
520
530
540
550
560
570
580
590
600
610
620
630
640
650
660
670
680
690
700
710
720
730
740
750
760
770
780
790
800
810
820
830
840
850
860

Table(1): Rapeseed oil production rate

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) |Biodiesel production experiment

Measured values of the oil production rate have been plotted in the following graph.

Crude oil producation rate

80
70

Weight [g]

60
50
40
30
20
10
0
0

100

200

300

400

500

600

700

800

900

Time [s]
Figure (3): Rapeseed oil production rate produced from table (1), measuring time approximately 20 minutes

Comments: As can be seen from the graph, at the beginning the production rate is zero.
However, after that production starts at a high rate rapidly and then continue to grow at linearly.
A huge rise can be seen in the 8th minutes following that the curve behaves again linearly until
the rate converges to zero.
Table (2) shows the measured values for containers weights used in the experiment.
Containers weight
Empty
Full

Oil

Residue

Filter Funnel

Rapeseed

97.6
102.3

246.4
310.4

34.7
54.6

182
442

Table (2): Weighs of containers, empty and filled conditions

8. Discussion: Approximately 72g of rapeseed oil achieved from pressing 260g of raw seed.
Considering this fact, the amount of oil extracted in this process is (72/260*100 = 28%) which is
lower than the theoretical value of 40% in the literature. However, this 40% is the aggregate
result of both pressing and solvent extraction. In this experiment 28% is the result of pressing
only but upon further oil extraction (solvent extraction) this value could come closer to 40%. The
percentage of the extracted oil in figure (1) is roughly 26% which is lower than 28% . Therefore
28 % oil is acceptable at this level.

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) |Biodiesel production experiment

References
1. http://www.eubia.org/index.php/about-biomass/biofuels-fortransport/biodiesel
2. http://www.anton-fries.de/oilpress/en/10802/index.php
3. http://www.esru.strath.ac.uk/EandE/Web_sites/0203/biofuels/quant_biodiesel.htm
4. http://lipidlibrary.aocs.org/OilsFats/content.cfm?ItemNumber=40337
5. http://whc-oils.com/refined-rapeseed-oil.html
6. http://www.canolacouncil.org/oil-and-meal/what-is-canola/how-canola-isprocessed/steps-in-oil-and-meal-processing/

Hamburg University of Applied Sciences (HAW) |Biodiesel production experiment