Crushing canola for oil

[Maxwell Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maxwell]

Hi All.
I' ve been looking into crushing canola for oil.
What I understand is that you get 300l per ton of grain. Plus quiet a valuable feed stock (high in protein).
Presses are relatively cheap $3000 to $12000 for one that does 3-6 ton per day.
If you turn the oil into biodiesel then you don’t have to degumm it.
Also no triation is needed because oil is not used.
Any information or experiences appreciated.
Cheers,
Maxwell

[Guest Close David]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

As a price comparison, What is a ton of canola grain worth and does the leftover have a market and if so, what price is it able to be sold for?

Economically, I'm just wondering how much Dino Diesel fuel a ton of your unprocessed canola would buy you if the canola was sold at it's average market price?

[Maxwell Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maxwell]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

.
Hi David,
From what I can gather the price is normally about $350-$370 per ton, but due to the bad season the price is about $450.
The value of the meal left after pressing is about $300-$320(also going up due to lack of feed).
They say that canola will rise also due to the pressure from European biodiesel producers coming into the Australian market to support growing usage throughout Europe

Cheers,
Maxwell

[Guest Close David]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

Interesting. Here is how I figure it based on the prices I can find.....

300L of oil per ton of canola seed.
Average production of seed = 2 ton per hectare
Todays value of canola $415 ton
Cost of production $300 per hectare.
Cost of diesel $1.40
Cost of bio production .35L
Value of pressed canola Meal $300 ton

So as I ( probably badly) figure it....

The value of your canola seed per hectare is 2 ton x 415 less production cost = $550 hectare if you sell the seed outright at todays Elders price.

Pressing 2 ton of canola gives you 600L of oil.
If you bought 600l of Diesel @ $1.40, that would be valued at $840.
That 600L of oil cost $300 to produce so that fuel value becomes $540.
Bio will cost you say. 35c/L which comes out at $210 to convert the canoli to bio. This subtracted from the Diesel value becomes $330
You then sell the left over Canola meal, 2 ton, and this earns you $600 which is added to the diesel value brings it up to total of $930.

On the face of this imprecise calculation, Canola would have a value of $550 as seed and $930 as fuel and by product. Of course there are a number of things not allowed for here.....

First consideration would be the cost of the BD equipment.... the press and the cost of building or buying a processor of reasonable size. Headers, tractors and trucks use a lot of fuel so you would need to have a fair bit of bio in reserve to fuel them during harvest time when demand would be greatest. You would also need to be capeable of produceing enugh fuel during the off peak periods to be running the other machinery and still putting some bio away.

Of course someone has to run the presses and operate the bio plant which is a cost in labour time. From what I believe, farmers are pretty busy already so either the farmer is working longer hours, is not doing some other job which he may have to pay labour to do or he pays someone to produce the bio. Heating and pumping the volumes of bio needed would also consume a reasonable amount of energy so electricity price needs to also be calculated or the cost of fuel to run a generator in more remote areas.

Another factor is the primary producers fuel rebate which reduces the cost of fuel from $1.40 pump price to whatever after the rebate is given.

I don't know how these missing numbers sway the equation but I think it is probably safe to say that the figures would not be too far apart either way.
As if the calculation isn't complex and variable enough, you then have all the other factors that may not be easily calcuable such as enviromental benifits, equipment maintaince costs or savings etc.

To crush or not to crush...?

[Gunner Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gunner]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

Much of the financial calculations have been done accurately in this paper by the WA WHeatbelt Development Commission. Bear in mind that Canola prices in the eastern states are slightly higher than in WA.

[Maxwell Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maxwell]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

This is from the viewpoint of a farmer.
What if you did it as a hobby?
You buy in a ton of canola at say $400 per ton, press it and get 300l of oil then sell back the 700kg of meal to the farmer for say $210($300 per ton), the oil has cost you$0.63 per litre.
Even if you convert that to biodiesel for $0.35 per litre your still paying under a $1 for diesel.

Cheers,
Maxwell

[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

While it looks simple to just buy some presses and crush some canols seed to get the oil, there are a number of difficulties to be overcome:

1. It is difficult to extract any more than 80% of the oil from the seed, the larger pressing facilities are fine tuned to achieve this more easily and can recover up to 91% of the oil, without using solvent extraction. Oil left in the meal provides no additional income, but is lost.
2. for SVO use, and possibly for biodiesel production, the oil should be degummed, as the gums are water soluble and may allow water to enter the fuel system. This requires a steam system and centrifuges to separate the steam/gums from the oil.
3. The equipment needs to be powered by something. Electric motors and installation by licensed electricians would add significantly to your costs. If you do not have a high capacity 3Φ mains supply, this may need to be provided.
4. Presses capable of 2 tonnes per day are cheap but will need a lot of fine tuning to recover sufficient oil (close to 90%) to make it worth doing it yourself. The loss of oil not extracted from the meal can tip the scales and make it uneconomic to do on a small scale.
5. The oil, as pressed, does contain FFAs, and the longer the seed sits before crushing, the greater % FFA will be present. These FFAs will need to be dealt with in a manner which will improve biodiesel output, without increasing soap byproduct, (eg Acid/Base process) as soap is not as useful as fuel.

[Jacka Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jacka]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

for SVO use, and possibly for biodiesel production, the oil should be degummed, as the gums are water soluble and may allow water to enter the fuel system. This requires a steam system and centrifuges to separate the steam/gums from the oil.

Tony I am going to ask and it has prob been asked and answered elsewere but this is a good place to get an answer for others like me who are not 100% sure

For BD production why does the oil have to be degummed?

What purpose does it serve?

What is the difference in the either production of BD or the end result of the BD or it's wastes?

Thanks

[Chris Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Chris]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

Interesting. Here is how I figure it based on the prices I can find.....

300L of oil per ton of canola seed.
Average production of seed = 2 ton per hectare
Todays value of canola $415 ton
Cost of production $300 per hectare.
Cost of diesel $1.40
Cost of bio production .35L
Value of pressed canola Meal $300 ton

So as I ( probably badly) figure it....

The value of your canola seed per hectare is 2 ton x 415 less production cost = $550 hectare if you sell the seed outright at todays Elders price.

Pressing 2 ton of canola gives you 600L of oil.
If you bought 600l of Diesel @ $1.40, that would be valued at $840.
That 600L of oil cost $300 to produce so that fuel value becomes $540.
Bio will cost you say. 35c/L which comes out at $210 to convert the canoli to bio. This subtracted from the Diesel value becomes $330
You then sell the left over Canola meal, 2 ton, and this earns you $600 which is added to the diesel value brings it up to total of $930.

On the face of this imprecise calculation, Canola would have a value of $550 as seed and $930 as fuel and by product. Of course there are a number of things not allowed for here.....

First consideration would be the cost of the BD equipment.... the press and the cost of building or buying a processor of reasonable size. Headers, tractors and trucks use a lot of fuel so you would need to have a fair bit of bio in reserve to fuel them during harvest time when demand would be greatest. You would also need to be capeable of produceing enugh fuel during the off peak periods to be running the other machinery and still putting some bio away.

Of course someone has to run the presses and operate the bio plant which is a cost in labour time. From what I believe, farmers are pretty busy already so either the farmer is working longer hours, is not doing some other job which he may have to pay labour to do or he pays someone to produce the bio. Heating and pumping the volumes of bio needed would also consume a reasonable amount of energy so electricity price needs to also be calculated or the cost of fuel to run a generator in more remote areas.

Another factor is the primary producers fuel rebate which reduces the cost of fuel from $1.40 pump price to whatever after the rebate is given.

I don't know how these missing numbers sway the equation but I think it is probably safe to say that the figures would not be too far apart either way.
As if the calculation isn't complex and variable enough, you then have all the other factors that may not be easily calcuable such as enviromental benifits, equipment maintaince costs or savings etc.

To crush or not to crush...?

Hi there
I missed this post It is very close to the mark If you fellows don't mind have a look at the new thread on this very issue started by me
I seem to have very similar views
The point is clear in both cases
Farmers!!!! CRUSH, CRUSH, CRUSH,
Cheers
Chris

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[Tony From West Oz Vice Chairperson of WARFA Find all posts View Profile Close Tony From West Oz]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

Originally Posted by Tony From West Oz

for SVO use, and possibly for biodiesel production, the oil should be degummed, as the gums are water soluble and may allow water to enter the fuel system. This requires a steam system and centrifuges to separate the steam/gums from the oil.

Tony I am going to ask and it has prob been asked and answered elsewere but this is a good place to get an answer for others like me who are not 100% sure

For BD production why does the oil have to be degummed?

What purpose does it serve?

What is the difference in the either production of BD or the end result of the BD or it's wastes?

Thanks

I do not know the reason (for degumming oil for biodiesel use) but it would be relatively easy to do comparative tests using degummed and non-degummed oil and have the biodiesel tested.

I presume that the gums may contain water and/or complicate the reaction with side reactions which either produce more water or use up the caustic.

There is no need to have the oil deodorised, bleached and pH balanced (ie Food Grade oil)

[Jacka Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close Jacka]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

Hmm intresting Tony thanks for the reply.

It does seem intresting in all of this that things like having the oil degummed just gets followed without any great questions being asked.

I would really be intrested in the reasons for this happening. It seems to me that sometimes and I am not saying you tony, information comes into fact just by being spoken without any real need for it. I wonder sometimes when some of the information comes out were it comes from and for what reason.

I have searched around and most places say that canola and other oils need to be degummed for BD production but I can't at this point find anywere that says that it is required for XYZ reason. Really weird

[Maxwell Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maxwell]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

Does anybody know if the figure of 300l per ton is with the 80% expected return or is it the total amount in the seed?
How much variation is there in seed oil content?
Cheers
Maxwell

[Gunner Donating Member Find all posts View Profile Close Gunner]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

How much variation is there in seed oil content

Quite a lot, depending on the variety planted, soil type, and quality of the season.

[farmer puddles Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close farmer puddles]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

Guys,
We're canola growers in a very secure part of southern NSW. Our canola is normally between 42 & 44% oil. In a drought as low as 37%, and a variety we grew a few years ago were getting up to 49%. The big problem with canola in such an environment as Australia is drought decimating the crop. Apart from 20mm of rain today we were looking at an almost complete crop disaster this year, even in such a sucure area. A lot of crops not far from here have already had the sheep put in (ie no yield of seed). But we do narmally average between 2 and 2.4 t/Ha, this year is like a 1 in 40 year drought.

[Maxwell Member Find all posts View Profile Close Maxwell]

Re: Crushing canola for oil

Working on those figures then, an average of 40% oil with an extraction of 80% would mean that 300l per ton would be feasible.
Any oil left in the meal would have to increase the value of the meal?
Does the protein change with the change in oil content?
Cheers
Maxwell