Rapeseed oil is rich in these compounds more commonly known as vitamin E. Typical crude oil contains 600 pp. Demand for this vitamin is rising very rapidly, due to its proven anti-ageing effect on skin and vitality. It is also now being widely used as a natural antioxidant in foodstuffs, thus replacing some of the `suspect' synthetic antioxidants.
The value of vitamin E is currently somewhere between £300-£700/kilo, depending on purity and parcel size. If we were to recover all the vitamin E per ton of crude rapeseed oil, this would equal 0.6 kg. If the value was taken as £200/kg. this means that we could recover £120, equivalent to 11p/litre of RME produced. As far as is known, none of the current producers of RME have considered this extremely valuable by-product. Extraction of the vitamin E from the RME is a relatively simple process involving distillation of the product, leaving the residue of tocopherols for further processing. Therefore, it would be important in the design of any production process to include this step. It might also dictate the method of esterification, as it is very important that the tocopherols are not chemically altered in any way. Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
