Abstract: Soybean oil is extracted by a two-stage process in which up to 85%, preferably from about 60 to about 75%, of the soybean oil in soybeans is extracted by mechanical or solvent extraction to produce first extracted oil and oil-containing meal. The first extracted oil is then refined by caustic or physical refining. Substantially all of the oil remaining in the meal is extracted by solvent extraction to produce second extracted oil and substantially oil-free meal. The second extracted oil may be transesterified for use in biodiesel fuel.

Abstract: A solvent extraction free, caustic refining free, process for producing refined vegetable oils, including soybean oil, cottonseed oil, rapeseed oil, and canola oil, is described in which the vegetable seeds, after cleaning, cracking and dehulling, are heated and mechanically pressed to separate oil. Free fatty acids are then removed from the pressed oil through physical refining, instead of previously employed caustic refining, since the low level of nonhydratable phospholipids does not create undesirable flavors during the physical refining process. The resultant oil exhibits a significantly greater frylife than non-hydrogenated vegetable oil produced by solvent extraction and caustic refining.

Abstract: A solvent extraction free, caustic refining free, process for producing refined soybean oil from soybeans is described in which soybeans, after cleaning, cracking and dehulling, are crushed in less than 60 seconds while heating the soybeans to a frictionally generated temperature of from about 300° F. to about 370° F. Free fatty acids are then removed through physical refining, instead of previously employed caustic refining, since the low level of nonhydratable phospholipids does not create undesirable flavors during the physical refining process. The resultant oil exhibits a significantly greater frylife that non-hydrogenated soybean oil produced by solvent extraction and caustic refining.

Abstract: A solvent extraction free, caustic refining free, process for producing refined soybean oil from soybeans includes the steps of heating cleaned, cracked and dehulled soybeans at a temperature of from 220° F. to 600° F. for from 45 to 60 minutes; mechanically pressing the heated soybeans to separate soybean oil; and heating the extracted oil at a temperature of from about 350° F. to about 500° F. under a vacuum to remove free fatty acids from the soybean oil.

Abstract: A solvent extraction free, process for producing refined soybean oil that is high in calcium and/or magnesium is described in which mechanically extracted crude soybean oil is subjected to a two-stage process to separate hydratable and nonhydratable phospholipids. In the first stage, the crude oil is intimately mixed with water or with a weakly acidic aqueous solution, e.g., a aqueous solution of citric acid or a similar organic acid, to form gums of the hydratable phospholipids. After removing the gums from the oil, e.g., by centrifuging, the oil from the first degumming is intimately mixed with a weakly basic solution, e.g., an aqueous solution of sodium hydroxide or sodium metasilicate, to produce soapstock and reduce the magnesium and calcium in the oil to less than 100 ppm, followed by separation of the soapstock, e.g., by centrifuging. Free fatty acids are then removed through physical refining.