Oil Extraction Yield & Oil & Cake from Seed
Crushes mustard
Enter seed weight, oil content and extraction efficiency to get oil in kg and litres, the oil-cake by-product, recovery percent and the value of oil and cake.
Your oilseed crush
Next: expect about 32.3% oil recovery; a solvent plant extracts more than a village ghani but ghani oil fetches a premium — and sell the cake as feed/manure to lift total value.
Oil contents are typical ranges; actual recovery varies with seed quality, moisture and the press.
Oil extraction — key facts
- Oil
- seed × oil% × efficiency%
- Oil cake
- seed − oil
- Recovery
- oil ÷ seed
- Oil litres
- oil kg ÷ 0.91
- Oil content
- mustard 38%, groundnut 45%, sesame 50%
- Ghani/expeller
- ≈ 80–90% efficiency
- Solvent
- ≈ 95% efficiency
- Privacy
- Runs in your browser; nothing uploaded
Two products from every batch of seed
A crush of oilseed gives you two things to sell: the oil and the cake left behind. How much oil depends on the seed's natural oil content and how well your method extracts it — a sesame seed at 50% oil yields far more than soybean at 18%, and a solvent plant pulls out more than a village ghani. The cake isn't waste either; that protein-rich meal feeds livestock or fertilises fields, and on many seeds it's worth a real share of the return.
This tool works out the oil in kg and litres, the oil cake, the recovery percent, and the value of oil and cake together in 8 currencies. Set the oil content for your seed — mustard, groundnut, sunflower, sesame, soybean, castor, copra or cottonseed — and the efficiency for ghani, expeller or solvent, then read whether the crush pays. Pair it with the Rice Milling Recovery, Dehydration Ratio and Grain Drying tools for the full post-harvest picture.
Know your oil out
Oil in kg and litres from any oilseed.
Value the cake too
Don't ignore the protein-rich by-product.
Compare methods
See ghani vs expeller vs solvent recovery.
Judge if it pays
Total oil-plus-cake value against your seed.
Frequently Asked Questions
How is oil yield calculated?+
Oil (kg) = seed weight × oil content (%) × extraction efficiency (%). The oil content is the share of oil naturally in the seed; the extraction efficiency is the share of that oil the process actually recovers. Multiply both fractions by the seed weight and you get the oil you'll get out — the tool also converts it to litres.
What is oil cake and why does it matter?+
Oil cake (or meal) is what's left after the oil is pressed out: cake = seed − oil. It's a valuable protein-rich by-product sold as cattle and poultry feed or used as organic manure. Because it can be a big share of the seed weight, the cake often makes the difference between a marginal crush and a profitable one, so the tool values it alongside the oil.
What is oil recovery percent?+
Recovery is oil out ÷ seed in, expressed as a percent — the bottom-line measure of how much oil a batch of seed actually produced. It folds together the seed's oil content and the efficiency of your process, so it's the figure to compare crushers, seasons or seed lots against.
How do I convert oil from kg to litres?+
Vegetable oils are lighter than water — about 0.91 kg per litre. So oil litres = oil kg ÷ 0.91. The calculator does this automatically so you can quote and sell by volume, which is how most edible oil is traded at retail.
What are typical oil contents by seed?+
Roughly: mustard 38%, groundnut 45%, sunflower 40%, sesame 50%, soybean 18%, castor 48%, copra (dried coconut) 65%, and cottonseed 18%. These are guideline figures — actual oil content varies with variety, maturity and how well the seed was dried and stored, so use your lot's tested value when you have it.
What efficiency should I expect from ghani vs solvent?+
Traditional ghani (kolhu) and mechanical expeller pressing recover about 80–90% of the oil, leaving more oil in the cake. Solvent extraction recovers around 95% or more, which is why large mills de-oil expeller cake again with solvent. Enter the efficiency that matches your method for an accurate yield.
Why does ghani oil sell at a premium?+
Cold-pressed ghani oil retains more flavour, aroma and natural nutrients than refined solvent-extracted oil, and many buyers will pay more for it as a traditional, less-processed product. The slightly lower recovery is often offset by the higher price, plus the cake still holds more residual oil and sells well as feed.
Can I sell the cake separately?+
Yes — oil cake is a tradeable product in its own right, sold by weight as livestock feed or manure. The tool lets you put a price per kg on the cake and adds its value to the oil value for a total return on the seed, which is the right way to judge whether crushing pays.
Does it work in my currency?+
Yes — it supports 8 currencies, so you can price oil and cake and read the totals in your own money. Just enter your local prices per kg or per litre and the calculator handles the rest, making it useful for crushers and farmers in many countries.
Are the results exact?+
They're solid estimates. Real yield depends on seed moisture and quality, the exact oil content of your lot, how well the machine is set up, and temperature. Treat the output as a planning and pricing figure, weigh your actual oil and cake from a trial crush, and refine the oil-content and efficiency inputs to match.