Economics of oilseed crushing: assessing the impact of solvent-free processing on added value☆
2024
Carré Patrick
While it is clear that solvent extraction (SE) dominates the vegetable oil production sector because of the higher yields it allows, it is more difficult to estimate the difference in added value (AV) between this production method and extraction by mechanical means alone (ME). The aim of this article is to propose an objective method for assessing this differential by addressing the question of assessing the material balances associated with each process and the issue of the value of expeller cakes in different economic contexts, an assessment made necessary by the absence of regular public quotations for these feedstuffs. Material balances are determined by the oil content in the seeds and the oil residues left in SE meals and ME cakes. Based on 100 kg of seeds, oil production was estimated at 43.7 and 44.9 kg using the SE process compared with 39.3 and 38.8 kg using the ME process for rapeseed and sunflower respectively. To assess the value of expeller cakes, we used a basket of feedstuffs with known quotations and nutritional value to determine an equation for price prediction within 35 market conjunctures between June 2008 and May 2024. These predictions were used to establish a linear correlation between hexane meal prices and predicted expellers prices allowing a calculation of the added value in 574 market situations from 2010 to 2024. A linear regression shows that AV of ME is equal to 0.71 AV of SE + 6.8 €/t for rapeseed and 0.63 AV of SE + 2.1 €/t for sunflower.
Show more [+] Less [-]AGROVOC Keywords
Bibliographic information
This bibliographic record has been provided by Directory of Open Access Journals
