ABSTRACT
Safety, health, and environmental issues for edible oil extraction facilities vary, depending on the extraction method used. For example, aqueous extraction, supercritical fluid extraction, and mechanical extraction facilities have different requirements than organic solvent extraction facilities. In the United States, edible oil extraction using organic solvents, is a mature industry that has been under increasing regulatory pressure in recent years. In this chapter, regulatory concerns and toxicity of extraction solvents, commercial hexane, and other potential alternative solvents are discussed along with the current methods of edible oil extraction (i.e., mechanical, prepress solvent, and solvent extraction).
