Plant Oils

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:
  • Vegetable Oil
    • ie Soybean Oil
  • Algae Oil
• 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

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

Internal Links

• Unprocessed Plant Oil as Fuel
• Bio-Diesel

External Links

• The Wikipedia Page on Plant Oils