How much canola oil can be squeezed out of canola seeds?
Canola seed, depending on the variety and the growing conditions, contains about 40% oil. Therefore from one ton you should get 2000 lbs *0.4 = 800 pounds of oil. However, we generally extract only about 80% with a mechanical press so 800 lbs *0.8 = 640 pounds of oil with the remainder in the meal. Large commercial plants using solvent extraction can take out almost all of the oil. Raw rapeseed oil weighs about 7.6 pounds per gallon so the 800 lbs of oil in the seeds provides about 105 gallons of oil. Since 2000 lbs is a common yield for canola in the Pacific Northwest, we use the figure of 100 gallons/acre as a typical oil yield. Another general rule is that 100 gallons of oil will produce 100 gallons of biodiesel.
