Many plants produce fruits, seeds or nuts which are rich in vegetable oils.

These are manufactured naturally by the plant as it grows. The vegetable oils have a very high energy content this energy is released when the oil is burned or used as food. This energy is gathered from the sun during photosynthesis and stored by the plant in molecules such as the oils and sugars which the plant manufactures. As well as energy, vegetable oils extracted from plants provide valuable nutrients substances necessary for life and growth.

Sunflower oil

Olive oil

Hazelnut oil

Extracting the oil from the plant is done in several ways. Plants can be thought of as containing oil, water and solid bits (the fibre and structure of the plant). Processing requires these to be separated. Cold pressing The simplest method is cold pressing. The plant material containing the oil is simply crushed then pressed to get all the liquid parts out. The oil and water are then separated and the oil purified to remove any unwanted impurities. Warm pressing The plant material may be warmed while pressing to help the oil to flow more readily. It is important that the heat is controlled too hot and the oil is damaged: - its flavour can be changed - nutrients/enzymes in the oil may be destroyed - its colour may get darker

Oil presses

Solvent extraction Oil remaining in the pulp after pressing is sometimes extracted by dissolving in a solvent. The solvent can then be separated from the oil by evaporating it. Oil produced in this way is of a lower quality than the pure oil obtained by pressing.
It may be less popular with buyers because of: - concern that solvent residues may remain in the oil - solvent residues may be harmful to health - high temp. for evaporating solvent may change flavour of oil Rapeseed is grown in Europe and Canada on a large scale for use both as a fuel and as a food oil (Canola is rapeseed oil). It is extracted from the crushed seeds using the solvent hexane.

A field of rapeseed

Testing the oil content of seeds

Before and after

Steam distillation
Some plant materials do not release their oils readily when pressed. Lavender oil is one example where a different method must be used. The lavender plant is put into boiling water, and the oil from the plant evaporates. Steam, carrying the oil vapour, then passes through a condenser where both are cooled, forming two layers of liquid an oil layer and a water layer. The water layer can be removed, along with other impurities, to leave the pure lavender oil.

Whole lavender plants are used

Water added for the distillation The copper distillation vessel

Because of their high energy content, vegetable oils are useful as fuels. Biodiesel is the name we give to any fuel made from vegetable oils. These can be used in cars or vans with a diesel engine. The vegetable oils are treated to remove some unwanted chemicals, and can be used on their own or blended with diesel fuel obtained from crude oil. Advantages of biodiesel: Doesnt use up crude oil reserves Waste products useful, as cattle feed and for making soap Very clean fuel emissions less harmful to plants and animals than ordinary diesel If spilled, breaks down faster than ordinary diesel - less damaging to environment Makes very little sulphur dioxide (so less acid rain) Renewable plants can be regrown continuously

Palm nut oil is used to produce biodiesel

The biggest advantage of all of using biodiesel rather than diesel from crude oil is that it is effectively carbon neutral.

When biodiesel and ordinary diesel fuel burn they produce carbon dioxide and water, so both fuels release greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. The difference is that the plants from which the biodiesel was made took carbon dioxide out of the atmosphere during photosynthesis this was used to build the oil molecules. The carbon dioxide taken in and the carbon dioxide given out are nearly in balance. As a result biodiesels contribute much less to Global Warming.

Ethanol is another bio-fuel, made from the fermentation of plant material usually
from sugar beet or sugar cane. Ethanol produced in this way can replace petrol, saving crude oil supplies. Like biodiesel the bio-ethanol is also effectively carbon neutral. The ethanol is either used as a fuel on its own, or blended with petrol to make a fuel often called Gasohol. Countries which dont have their own crude oil supplies can benefit from cheaper transport by using bioethanol.

So, why isnt everyone using biofuels for all our fuel needs ?
The answer has to do with the amount of land needed to grow all the plants. Brazil uses a lot of biofuel only 3% of Brazils agricultural land is needed to meet 10% of its fuel needs for transport. In Europe, it would take 72% of all the available agricultural land just to grow the plants necessary to meet 10% of our fuel needs for transport.

Currently many biofuels are more expensive than diesel produced from crude oil (2006 figures)

The molecules in vegetable oils contain long chains of carbon atoms youve met this before with alkanes, alkenes and polymers. The long chains can contain both single bonds and double bonds between the carbon atoms: Oils or fats with no double bonds are called SATURATED Oils or fats with one double bond are called UNSATURATED Oils or fats with lots of double bonds are referred to as POLYUNSATURATED Animal fats are high in saturated oils they are used in luxury products with rich creamy textures.

Vegetable oils are higher in unsaturated or polyunsaturated chains, and are more healthy. High in polyunsaturates is a phrase often used to advertise products such as margarines.

We can test whether an oil is saturated or not using BROMINE WATER if there are double bonds present, the orange bromine water becomes colourless. burette
IODINE solution can also be used to test in a similar way going from brown to colourless if double bonds are present.

bromine water

TITRATION can be used to compare how

unsaturated different vegetable oils or products are: conical flask vegetable oil sample Bromine water is added until it is no longer decolourised by the oil sample. The more unsaturated the oil is, the more bromine water it can decolourise, so the larger the volume of bromine water which will be added.

Although vegetable oils are healthier in margarines than animal fats, vegetable oils are much more runny, so the texture of the margarine would be too soft and sloppy. Unsaturated oils can be hardened by saturating them. The double bonds in the oil are reacted with hydrogen making them into single bonds. The process is called hydrogenation. A finely-divided nickel catalyst and a temperature of 60C is used.

Heat (60C)

unsaturated oil + hydrogen H H H H H | | | | | -CCC=CC | | | H H H HH

saturated oil

Ni catalyst

H H H H H | | | | | -CCCCC | | | | | H H H H H

Oils hardened by hydrogenation are useful as spreads and in cakes and pastries

The melting point and boiling point of an oil depend on the intermolecular forces holding the oil molecules to one another.

The closer the molecules can get to each other, the stronger the forces. So more energy needs to be used to overcome these forces when melting or boiling the oil.

Saturated oils can pack closely together, so the intermolecular forces are strong and the melting points are higher than unsaturated oils.

The double bonds in unsaturated oils prevent the molecules from packing closely together, making the melting points much lower.

Cooking brings about irreversible changes to food. For example, when an egg is cooked the colourless outer part turns white and gets firmer. Its flavour also changes. These changes are chemical reactions. Oil boils at a much higher temperature than water, so cooking in oil means that different reactions take place. The reactions also take place more rapidly the food cooks more quickly. There are clear differences - in flavour - in colour - in texture between potatoes boiled in water and potatoes fried in oil Foods cooked in oil will absorb some of the oil they are cooked in, leading to them having a higher energy content (higher calorie foods) than the same food cooked in boiling water. If we eat foods with more energy content than we need to meet our energy needs, the remainder of the energy is stored in our bodies in the form of fat. Eating food with more energy than we need leads to obesity and heart disease.

Oil and water do not mix if you shake a portion of vegetable oil and a portion of water, the droplets will soon settle back into two layers.
Oil is less dense than water, so the oily layer floats on top of the water.

The creamy texture of many foodstuffs (e.g. mayonnaise) depends on mixing oil and water in such a way that that the two do not separate. This is called an EMULSION. An EMULSIFIER is added to the oil and water to prevent them from reforming two layers. Egg yolk is an emulsifier used in many foodstuffs.

Emulsifier molecules have a hydrophobic (water-hating, oil-loving) end and a hydrophilic (water-loving) end. When the oil and water are mixed, the emulsifier molecules surround the oil droplets, with their hydrophilic parts outermost. Because the hydrophilic parts are negatively charged, they repel each other the oil droplets therefore repel each other, preventing them from recombining into a separate layer.

Properties of an emulsion:

The emulsion is thicker than the oil or the water It is opaque, whereas the oil and water are transparent It has a smooth creamy texture, and a different flavour to that of the oil or water

Milk is also an emulsion, containing animal fats dispersed in water, as can be seen in this microscope image:

Ice-cream is a high-technology food. It contains an oil-water emulsion, as well as having lots of air bubbles folded into it during the mixing process to make it light in texture. Being frozen, the oil and water parts do not separate, and the bubbles are trapped in the mixture. When ice-cream melts, the bubbles of air are lost, and the oil and water parts begin to separate. This means that if ice-cream is allowed to melt, then refrozen, the water and oil parts will have separated. You can usually see this because the watery part will have formed ice crystals, and the ice-cream will have a more crunchy texture.

Emulsifiers are one kind of additive that food manufacturers may add to foods.
Some substances used as additives are naturally occurring, and others are artificial (man-made), but whether natural or man-made they must be approved for use in Europe (given an E-number) if they are to be added to food. Many natural foods contain the same substances as food manufacturers use as additives, but in this case they dont need to be shown on ingredients labels. e.g. Lemons contain ascorbic acid (E300). Lemons dont need a label with contains E300 on them ! If a food manufacturer makes a foodstuff and adds ascorbic acid then they will need to label it to show E300 has been added.

Additives are usually added for beneficial reasons such as to preserve the shelf-life of foods, or to make them more healthy, however some additives (e.g. some food colourings) have been linked with disorders such as hyperactivity in children.