Rapeseed oil is one of the most commonly produced vegetable oils globally. In 2019, world production of rapeseed oil was 24 million tonnes, led by Canada, China, and India as the largest producers, accounting together for 40% of the world total.
Where is rapeseed grown?
Rapeseed is extensively cultivated in Canada, France, Belgium, Ireland, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark, Poland, Japan and Slovenia. In France and Denmark especially, the extraction of the oil is an important industry. The name for rapeseed comes from the Latin word rapum meaning turnip.
Can rapeseed be used as a raw material?
At the Fraunhofer Center for Chemical-Biotechnological Processes CBP in Leuna, Germany, representatives from politics, research and industry opened a novel pilot plant for the mild processing of rapeseed to increase the added-value potential of rape as a raw material.
How is rapeseed processed?
Schematic representation of the processing of rapeseed: conventional processing in industrial oil mills (left) compared to the EthaNa process based on ethanolic native extraction (right). In the de-hulling plant, up to 100 kilograms of rapeseed per hour can be de-hulled in continuous operation.