Plant Oils
(Redirected from Algae Oil)
Basics
- A term for any sort of oils derived from living or recently dead plants (ie Biomass ) in a non-chemically transformative way
- This is kind of terminology hell, but it is the best "Central Term" for:
- Also Bio-Oil often is used in scientific literature to refer to Pyrolysis Oil and is thus an ineffective search term for this
- Also "Oil/Oils" can be used for this, but also is often used for referring to Oil (Fossil Fuel)
- Mainly used as Cooking Oils and as Biofuel
- Either directly (where it is called Pure Plant Oil and abbreviated as "PPO" ) (see Unprocessed Plant Oil as Fuel ), or via further Bio-Refining
- Most commonly Bio-Diesel
- Either directly (where it is called Pure Plant Oil and abbreviated as "PPO" ) (see Unprocessed Plant Oil as Fuel ), or via further Bio-Refining
Processing
- Depends on the end goal
- A Flowchart is in order but basically
- If intended for use as food, AND preserving the unique flavor of the feedstock (ie Extra Virgin Olive Oil etc) little processing short of removing particulates etc is done
- If a neutral tasting “cooking oil” is desired (Such as Canola Oil or Soybean Oil etc) Oil Deoderization and Bleaching may be done
- For applications as a Fuel, Feedstock, or Lubricant (Such as Castor Bean Oil ) more intensive processing may be done
- PPO can also be turned into a heavier oil or wax via Hydrogenation
- This can be for food such as Shortening/Margarine (where care to fully saturate the fats and not produce Trans Fats is needed) or simply to make a heavier fuel or solid wax (Such as Soy Wax etc)
- The Catalyst used for this needs to be removed via filtration afterwards
