I believe he will reply that they are using a mechanical press, versus using hexane to leach the oil out, so they are about 60% of the way to being 'certified organic' just with that. (their soil is another topic)

It also saves them expense of removing the haxane which they would have to do to its high toxicity, which industrial-size producers can do relatively cheaply. This is just to make it food grade, not organic, btw.

The last few steps to organic can be worth it (the $) or not, depending on the goals and target market for the oil. Essentially, if one's farm is 75-100 miles or more from a major population center of say 250,000 or more, one's best bet might be to sell to a distributor or chain of stores of Organic Products within the city.

Transportation/distribution costs are most likely more responsible for the higher cost on the shelf (for organic products in general) than the costs involved in making the stuff organic in the first place! But thankfully we are seeing that trend reverse as more independent farms start directly selling higher quality, non- or low- chemical products like these guys.

Question:

Should we talk more about the business of oil here or start a new thread? I just know when I start throwing numbers around someone is bound to disagree, LOUDLY...

powdrluvr,
Did you have any problems setting up a food grade plant?
Did you build or buy most of the equipment?

Only one problem with building the food plant. That is Money$$$$$$$. It has cost us tons, in time building, not working on other stuff, and we are still not officially approved. You have to check with your local authorities to see what is necessary to sell Vegetable Oil as food. We had to obtain a food processors license. And doing it out of the kitchen does not count where I live. We built a custom pressing room, and separate bottling room. Commercial dishwasher, washable walls, floors, hot water heater, special light bulb covers, etc.....

We sure hope we can get some money back out of it, but it is still going to take A LOT of work.

We cold press safflower oil. Canola and Camelina have also been pressed. Safflower is the only one worth eating in my opinion. Canola needs to be chemically refined for it's taste that you get at the frier. Did I mention most Canola deep fried with is GMO and chemically extracted, scary stuff.

Thanks for the details, please keep us updated on your progress.

-Ken

One question often asked is, how much oil can you get from a bushel of soybeans or canola? My nephew did a little test. He weighed a wagon of beans and kept track of the oil. Looks like we are getting .88 gallons of oil per bushel of soybeans. The beans were not dehulled or preheated. That number will go down a little after the oil is cleaned, but not much.

Camelina photos.

Those are awesome pictures!
Just a complete inspiration to us all!
Keep it up!
-Graydon

There was a little debate about how mush water oilseed crops use. I am not a rocket scientist, but I think it should take a little less than what we got today. I know the photos are not good quality.

OH fudge! Did you lose much of your crop?
It looks like all that camelina is now laying on the ground... It already looked a little beat up in the first picture but what the hell do I know? My family and I just planted our first vegetable garden and other than growing some alternative medicine in my youth I really have no experience with farming let alone grading crop dammage from a picture... LOL
Jon

The camelina plot is not very big. Some of the plants will be wiped out but it should not be to bad. We got 2.6 inches of rain in less than 1 hour. The ground was already saturated before the storm.

We have had a lot of rain and some of the crop was blown over before the storm.

Glad to hear you didn't suffer much of a loss!
We have been getting pounded with rain here too, I am trying to get my house foundation dug up to install new weepers and the weather is just not cooperating...
Jon

quote:

So using modest numbers, we'll figure on getting 3500 bu. of beans off of 80 acres, and 3500 bu. of canola from the same acreage, the beans should make at least 2600 gal of fuel and the canola 5200 gal.,

Does that work out to 65 gal per acre canola and 32 gal/ac soy?


pennycress trials: 90 gallons per acre
http://www.biodieselmagazine.c....jsp?article_id=3555
http://www.canadiandriver.com/...om-invasive-weed.htm

quote:

That sounds like the oil-leasing program McDonald's was using/is using. There was a company in Minneapolis that leased their oil to McDonald's in a multi-state region and then got it back to make biodiesel. They were called Environmental Solutions or something like that.

oil leasing
http://www.preferredoil.net/
this could work at any scale

WOW! 90 gallons per acre...
I wonder how sustainable and viable stink weed is if the press cake cant be used as feed and the oil inedible?
A great option for a hobbyist with some acreage though... Stink weed grows everywhere around here!
Jon

Making Pennycress Pay Off
Biodiesel Magazine February 2008 Issue
by Susanne Retka Schill

Pennycress is a weed that researchers think has the potential to quell the food versus fuel debate. If initial findings prove true, it could become a biodiesel feedstock that doesn’t compete with corn and soybeans for acres.


Researchers in Illinois believe they have the answer to the continuing food versus fuel debate and high commodity prices that challenge the biodiesel industry: pennycress. Their excitement stems from the ability of the plant to be transformed from a weed into a biodiesel feedstock. “It’s off season from corn and soybeans, has high seed yield and high oil,” says Terry Isbell, lead researcher in the new crops and processing technology group at the National Center for Agricultural Utilization Research at Peoria, Ill.

The agronomic potential of pennycress is what excites the researchers most, especially in light of the food versus fuel debate. In the wild, pennycress seed is produced in the spring and lies dormant until daylight hours shorten in the fall when it germinates. Its leaves grow low to the ground, providing good winter cover and preventing soil erosion. When warm spring days arrive in late April and May, field pennycress bolts and flowers reaching heights of 30 inches or so. It can be harvested in early June just in time to plant a full-season soybean crop. Isbell says the plant appears to be a low-input crop and will likely require little fertilization.
http://www.biodieselmagazine.c....jsp?article_id=2047

The little plot of cameline was harvested today. Our combine is to big to cut small plots but we gave it a try. We got three feed sacks of seed. I am sure there was more but it is not easy getting such a small amount of seed out of a big combine.



Small amount of seed in combine bin.

Clip of direct cutting canola instead of swathing. Yes I do know I sound like a hayseed when I talk. I am a product of my environment.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...feature=channel_page

My gosh that was cool!
You've got some of the coolest toys out there....

Hi Fuel farmer
Please excuse my ignorance, is there a commercial name for oil yielded from camelina seed?Is the oil like canola(rape seed over here)in colour-thanks.Maybe its just sold as "vegetable oil"?
Love your posts and video's-thank you for sharing.
Hope your flood/crop damage was minnimal

I have no idea how camelina oil is sold, or if it is used as a food oil. We just grew a very small plot for fun. The old story is that rape seed oil was renamed canola oil because rape oil might not sell well to the average house wife shopper. I am sure there is more to the story.

The flooding was not a big problem.

Thanks for the kind words. Glad you enjoy the stuff posted here.

quote:

Originally posted by fuelfarmer:
I have no idea how camelina oil is sold, or if it is used as a food oil.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Camelina_sativa

Camelina -- HHMMM, that article says it is in the same family as rapeseed, wonder if it will cross-pollinate with the Canola, I guess this would only be a problem if the crops were being grown as seed intended to be planted the next year.

From what I have read, true Rapeseed oil has a very high Erucic acid content that makes the oil toxic for humans, Canola was developed in Canada by selectively breeding Rapeseed plants that had a lower acid content, they eventually developed a plant that has oil that is not toxic for human consumption that was then called Canola (CANada Oil Low Acid) (Wiki) .