How do they derive oils from plants?

Factual Questions
1

I mean, you got olive oil, corn oil, baby oil…

How do they derive all these oils from their sources?

2

Generally, by squeezing them, but also by using organic solvents to dissolve the oil out, and then evaporating off the solvent.

Olive oil is traditionally extracted in an olive press.

Corn oil is extracted using an expeller press, and then, I believe, by using solvent to extract the oil from the mushed up corn.

Baby oil … well, use your imagination.

3

When I lived in Oregon, one of the cash crops was peppermint, which was used to produce peppermint oil. The oil was separated from the plants using steam, and was done in the fields with a mobile extraction machine. The plant refuse remaining after extraction was dumped back on the fields, yielding an overwhelming aroma of peppermint for days afterwards.

4

The Master speaks

5

Generally speaking, there are 2 sorts of plant oils:

  1. Those from inherently oily fruits, such as olives. The basic process is that the fruits are ground up finely in water, and then the water/pomace is separated from the oil. Solvents are used to remove remaining oil from the pomace after the initial separation.

  2. Essential oils from leaves, flowers and the like. These are usually distilled from the plant matter using a still very similar to those used for alcohol distillation.