Oil and biodiesel from canola having a high content of green seed

摘要: The price of canola seed is sharply discounted if the content of green seed in the sample is greater than 2%. The main reason for the discount is the higher cost to refine oil from green seed to a food-grade oil. Current practices for swathing and harvesting canola, as recommended by the North Dakota State University Extension Service, are intended to reduce the percentage of green seed in the sample to acceptable levels. Harvest with the swath method is more expensive than the straight cut method. Straight cutting canola would reduce the field operations by farmers and would probably reduce shatter loss by at least 5%. Canola production must be increased greatly to meet the anticipated demand for canola biodiesel. The objective of this study was to determine whether oil from straight-cut canola seed will be acceptable for production of biodiesel.