Processing of Crambe abyssinica seed in commercial extraction facilities

Crambe abyssinica seed was processed in four commercial oilseed crushing facilities, two utilizing prepress solvent extraction and two utilizing straight solvent extraction techniques. Mill capacities ranged from several T/day to 200 T/day. Crambe throughput in the larger facilities ranged from 30 to 150 T/day. Seed, press cake, flakes and finished meal samples were collected and analyzed during and following the runs. On‐site testing included measurements of moisture, oil, glucosinolate and temperature and estimates of thioglucosidase enzyme activity. Three to 7 T of defatted meal were produced for each of four beef cattle feeding studies, and oil produced was blended into commercial erucic acid production streams. Except for one run, thioglucosidase inactivation had to be completed in the desolventizing/toasting (DT) unit, and the high temperatures required resulted in destruction of glucosinolate and the formation of aglucon product, 1‐cyano‐2‐hydroxy‐3‐butene, and glucose in the finished meals. Protein solubility and lysine levels decreased with excessive heat. Regression analysis was used to examine some of the data for relationships between temperature, moisture, glucosinolate, nitrogen solubility and aglucon products. The results of these runs further demonstrate the feasibility of processing Crambe in commercial oilseed facilities.