We recognise that customers of thepersonal care and cosmetics industries mayhave an innate negative reaction to theconcept of responsible pesticide/herbicideuse, as well as solvent extraction methods.Indeed, even benign chemistries such asparabens and silicones are more frequentlyreferred to as inherently ‘bad’ and‘unnatural’. This can be a difficult obstacleto overcome. It is often much easier tothrow around words such as ‘natural’ and‘green’ without deeper exploration intowhich raw materials manufacturingprocesses are truly more responsible.

In this article, we explain the farmingmethods of meadowfoam and comparemanufacturing methods available for theproduction of vegetable oils such asmeadowfoam seed oil (MSO). As a farmingcompany, we hope this article furthers thediscussion of farm level sustainability andbegins to push the personal care industrytowards holding suppliers responsible in ameaningful way.

Natural Plant Products (NPP) is themanufacturing and marketing subsidiary of Oregon Meadowfoam Growers (OMG),

a farming cooperative comprised of over 50 farms in the Willamette Valley ofOregon, US. NPP is dedicated tosustainably producing oilseed crops for the personal care and cosmetics industries.We have grown meadowfoam for over 30 years and hold regular, comprehensivegrower meetings to ensure that allmembers understand and support thecooperative’s mission. Additionally, ourcooperative dedicates a staff agronomist to support, monitor, and maximisesustainable crop production.

Tucked between the Oregon Coast andCascade mountain ranges, the WillametteValley is located in the northwest region ofOregon. It is a valley known for rich fertilesoil which resulted from vast ice age floodscoming down the Columbia River Gorge.The combination of this fertile soil, mildsummers, and high levels of precipitationhave made the Willamette Valley one of the largest seed crop producing regions in the world. In addition to meadowfoamand daikon radish, our growers cultivatenumerous other crops including grass seed,cabbage, lentils, turnips and kale.

Brief history of vegetableoils in cosmeticsSince the infancy of the personal care andcosmetics industries, vegetable oils havebeen used for their emolliency and positiveimpact on skin barrier function. In fact,there is evidence that castor oil was usedin ancient Egypt as a protective salve.1

Currently, there are a variety of factors thataffect the global market for vegetable oils,such as increasing demand, biofuelsdevelopment, fluctuations in crude oilprices, speculation, droughts, and changinggeographical weather patterns.2

In 2012, global production of majorvegetable oils (rapeseed, palm andsoybean) topped 160 million metrictonnes.3 Yet, the six major markets in thepersonal care and cosmetics industries(Europe, Japan, China, SE Asia, India, andUS) only consumed approximately 20,200metric tonnes of vegetable oils.4 While thisis not a perfect comparison, we can seejust how small our industry is in relation to the global market for vegetable oils. With that in mind, we extrapolate just howlittle input personal care manufacturers

Reprinted from April 2015 PERSONAL CARE 1

Aaron Reber, Mike Martinez – Natural Plant Products, US PROCESS TECHNIQUES

Solvent extraction assessedas most sustainable method

may have relative to food producers whensourcing commodity fats and oils. It is notinconceivable that trends in vegetable oilswill necessarily follow the trends in thefood industry, which consumes well over80% of the world’s vegetable oils as of2008.2

Personal care brands andmanufacturers have a vested interest inthe long-term viability of their own supplychains. With over 5% growth in vegetableoils expected per year in personal carealone in Europe, Japan, China, and NorthAmerica,4 it is imperative that personalcare and cosmetics manufacturers look to partner with farming organisations thathave long-term visions for sustainablegrowth and transparent supply chains. One piece of the supply chain that is often a mystery is the production ofvegetable oils.

Farming impactsIntroduce global warming potential (GWP)One of the most pressing issues of ourtime is global warming. According to theNational Research Council:5

“Projections of future climate change

anticipate an additional warming of 2.0˚F

to 11.5˚F (1.1˚C to 6.4˚C) over the

21st century, on top of the 1.4˚F already

observed over the past 100 years.

Warming is and will be greatest over land

areas and higher latitudes. Projected

impacts of future climate change include:

� Water availability will decrease in many

areas that are already drought-prone

and in areas where rivers are fed by

glaciers or snowpack

� A higher fraction of rainfall will fall in

the form of heavy precipitation,

increasing the risk of flooding and, in

some regions, the spread of water-

borne illness

� People and ecosystems in coastal

zones will be exposed to higher storm

surges, intrusion of salt water into

freshwater aquifers, and other risks as

sea levels rise

� Coral reefs will experience widespread

bleaching as a result of increasing

temperatures, rising sea levels, and

ocean acidification.”

Additionally, in our own survey of toppersonal care manufacturers’ (includingEstée Lauder, Aveda, L’Oréal, Amway, andP&G, among others) corporate socialresponsibility reports, we learned globalwarming and greenhouse gas emissionsare on the top of the list (mentioned in aleading 67% of surveyed corporate socialresponsibility reports) with regards toenvironmental impact. After reviewing ourprimary vegetable oil supply chain, wechose to evaluate the environmental

impacts of our farm production techniquesand our vegetable oil manufacturingsystems and considered the impacts ofchanging to an alternative vegetable oilmanufacturing methodology.

Various metrics are utilised to quantifythe relative climate impact of differentsubstances. The most used metric is theGlobal Warming Potential (GWP) whichincorporates radiative forcing to a specifictime horizon. So, GWP estimates theradiative efficiencies of various materials,their lifetimes in the atmosphere, andindicates relative values for the referencegas, CO2.6 In other words, these metricsseeks to place a single number on theatmospheric effects that a chemicalcompound has upon global warming.

Diesel usageOne of the highest environmental costinputs when farming is the diesel which is burned by tractors, heavy equipment on the farm, and by trucks taking farmproducts to markets and processing sites.In order to get a full view of a rawmaterial’s environmental impact, one mustnecessarily include this fuel consumption.

Using a crop production enterprisebudget developed by the Oregon StateUniversity Extension Service,7 NPP hascalculated the diesel usage data for ourmeadowfoam farms in Table 1.

Eighty per cent of OMG’s meadowfoamacreage is no-till. Tillage is a long-acceptedmeans of weed and pest control, as well asa standard method of field preparation, inwhich a set of discs is pulled behind atractor and the soil is turned and brokenup. It is commonly referred to as ploughing.Contrarily, no-till establishment is when acrop is planted straight through the stubbleof the previous year’s crop without tilling

the field. Meadowfoam facilitates no-tillfarming in both annual and perennialgrasses (OMG growers’ predominant crops)saving 60% to 84%8 of establishment costsprimarily through reduced fuel consumptionthat results from the elimination of tillageoperations.

As seen in Table 2, utilising the no-tillmethod of farming reduces diesel usage byapproximately 43%. This is positive newsbut the reality is that large-scale farming,no matter the method, burns fossil fuels.

AgrichemicalsIn no-till rotational farming, the use ofherbicides is essential. This is due to thefact that crops are planted right throughthe stubble from the previous year’s crops.This means that without herbicide, the newcrops would have a near-impossible timeestablishing themselves before the previousyear’s crops begin to grow again from theirstubble. In order to assist the currentcrop’s establishment, herbicides aresprayed in order to slow or eliminate thedevelopment of the previous year’s crops.

In the grass seed industry in Oregon,pests are another concern. One example isgastropods, most notably the slug. Slugsthrive in the moist climate of Oregon andthe newly grown shoots of grass seed androtational crops make perfect food.According to Oregon State UniversityCollege of Agricultural Science, 2015:“Western Oregon is a paradise for slugs.With volcanic soils, lush vegetation and sixor more months of dampness each year,what more could a naked terrestrialgastropod wish for?”.9

Additionally, Oregon Senate Bill 528,passed in 2009, effectively banned field-burning (a very effective method for pestcontrol) in the Willamette Valley, thusfurther narrowing the pest-control options a no-till farmer has on his field. For theseand other reasons, pesticides are appliedat differing points during the growing cyclesof rotational crops in the Willamette Valley.

These agrichemicals have their own setof environmental impacts, but for the sakeof this article, we will focus on the GWPrelated to manufacture and application ofthese products.

PROCESS TECHNIQUES

2 PERSONAL CARE Reprinted from April 2015

Table 1: Meadowfoam farm diesel usage.

Conventional till diesel usage No-till diesel usage (gallon/acre) (gallon/acre)

Tractor 12.138 2.9956

Self-propelled 3.776 3.9029

Pickup 0.5 0.5

Truck w/Tank 0.1499 0.1499

Harvest Truck 0.1999 0.1999

Total 16.7638 7.7483

Table 2: Breakdown of conventional versus no-till methods in relation to diesel usage.

OMG Meadowfoam Farms

No-till 80%

Conventional 20%

Average Diesel Use, gallon/acre 9.55

considered unrecoverable and is discardedor sold with the seed meal.

During solvent extraction there is, ofcourse, solvent used. In the case of thisstudy, we focus on hexane extraction.During the process of continuous hexaneextraction, three things happen with thehexane used. It either:� Is recaptured for recirculation in the

system – this is where over 95% of thehexane used in our manufacturingprocess goes

� Escapes into the atmosphere – this is akey regulatory enforcement area for thevegetable oil industry

� Leaves the system in the defatted seedmeal byproduct or with waste water. Thephysio-chemical properties of hexanelead to this being considered an indirectatmospheric release.

Hexane extraction of vegetable oil beginswith cleaned and dried oilseed beingcracked quickly.13 It is then flaked and

PROCESS TECHNIQUES

Reprinted from April 2015 PERSONAL CARE 3

Figure 1: Total GWP per unit of RBWD oil.

Soil erosion and water qualitySoil erosion is a slow continuing processthat happens when the effect of wind orwater separates and offloads soil particles,triggering the ground to deteriorate.10

Additionally, ISU goes on to state:“Water quality is affected significantly by

soil erosion. Increased levels of nitrogen

and phosphorus, along with higher

sediment loads, are the leading

contributors to reduced water quality.

Nitrogen and phosphorus move from fields

to surface water when sediment is

transported through runoff and soil erosion.

As a result of the nitrogen- and

phosphorus-enriched sediments,

eutrophication – the growth of algae and

other aquatic plants – occurs, decreasing

dissolved oxygen levels.”Nonpoint source pollution (caused by

precipitation or snowmelt flowing over andthrough soil) due to agriculture is theleading cause of water quality effects onmeasured rivers and lakes, the secondbiggest source of damages to wetlands,and a chief contributor to pollution ofmeasured estuaries and ground water.11

Agricultural actions that create nonpointsource pollution comprise (among others)improperly timed or too frequent ploughing,and incorrect, unnecessary, or poorly timedspreading of pesticides, irrigation water,and/or fertiliser.

It is apparent that soil erosion and waterquality are two issues, which while notdirectly linked to global warming, shouldstill be considered when viewing agricultureand its impacts.

The bottom lineEnvironmental impacts from agriculture arereal and substantive. Notably, over 80 percent of our environmental impacts comefrom on-farm activities. Fuel burning andagrichemical usage carry GWP and thereare also issues surrounding soil erosion and water quality. For these reasons we conclude that production efficiency,meaning less acreage for the same volume of oil from oilseed crops, is a more favourable option.

Two manufacturing methodsMechanical extraction of vegetable oils is aprocess by which dried oilseed is preheatedand fed into a press.12 This press is moreoften than not a screw press which pressesthe oil directly from the seed. In thisprocess, feed heat, pressure, and screwpressure are balanced for optimal oilquality. Seed meal press cake is recoveredin bins and typically still contains 3% to 4%oil in large-scale facilities and may containup to 10% oil in small-scale manufacturing.In the vegetable oil industry, this oil is often

Mechanical extractionHexane extraction

0.000356963

0.000472534

32.4% incre

ase

expanded in much the same way as apuffed cheese snack is made, with heat,moisture, and pressure. The expandedseed is washed with hexane whichdissolves the oil. The mixture of oil andwater (often termed miscella) is then sentto a desolventisation process whichremoves the hexane from the oil andrecaptures it for future use. In our process,approximately 95% of all hexane used isrecaptured. The remaining 5% is typicallylost to environmental release which isregulated by California and United Stateslaw.

Much like mechanical extraction, oilseedmeal is then recovered in bins. However,the major difference is that residual oil insolvent extracted oilseed meal is typicallyaround 0.5% to 1% in large facilities.12

This means that hexane extraction has thepotential to extract 99% of oil from seed asopposed to 96-97% through mechanicalextraction. This may not sound like a hugedifference, but in reference to hundreds or

Table 3: Hexane extraction, environmental results.

Field Production Transport Manufacture

Nitrogen applied, lbs 0.004589619

Agrichemicals, lbs of active 0.011668232

Petrochemicals (diesel and hexane), gal 0.039955525 0.00940416 0.001675

Refining Inputs, lbs 0.014152

Carbon dioxide emissions, MT 0.000356963 8.40168E-05

Nitrous oxide emissions, MT 1.30115E-07

Table 4: Mechanical extraction, environmental results.

Field Production Transport Manufacture

Nitrogen applied, lbs 0.018986145

Agrichemicals, lbs of active 0.01544597

Petrochemicals (diesel and hexane), gal 0.052891636 0.00974115

Refining inputs, lbs 0.027086

Carbon dioxide emissions, MT 0.000472534 8.70274E-05

Nitrous oxide emissions, MT 1.72241E-07

PROCESS TECHNIQUES

4 PERSONAL CARE Reprinted from April 2015

thousands of metric tonnes of oil, thisdifference is magnified greatly.

Case study: measuring theinputs and waste streamsWe have compiled data from a number ofsources in order to measure theenvironmental impact of twomanufacturing methods for MSO:mechanical and hexane extraction.

The following analysis compares theenvironmental impact of two vegetable oilsupply chains that span seed productionthrough oil manufacturing. The aim is tolearn how extraction methods can affectthe overall environmental outcomes withregards to GWP. We assume that allmethods of farming and transportation arethe same; we are only trying to learn howthe differences in manufacturing affectthese outcomes. We measured andconverted the following inputs to GWP:� Average diesel fuel burned on-farm per

acre� Agrichemical usage per acre� Transport of seed to manufacturing site� Manufacturing process� Transport of crude oil to refinery� Crude oil refining, bleaching, winterizing,

and deodorising� Transport of RBWD oil to our warehouse

in Southern California

It should be noted that we calculatedtransport costs using the addresses of ourprimary seed warehouse, our primaryrefinery, our primary oil warehouse, andtwo different addresses of oil extractionfacilities – based on our currentrelationships.

How do the manufacturingmethods compare when itcomes to GWP?Given the aforementioned higher capturerate for oil from hexane extraction, itstands to reason that the number of acresneeded to produce the same amount of oilwould be greater for mechanical extraction.Indeed, in our calculations, 0.004183acres of land are needed for 1 unit RBWD(refined, bleached, winterised, anddeodorised) MSO using hexane extractionwhereas 0.005538 acres are needed toproduce the same amount of RBWD MSOusing mechanical extraction.

Tables 3 and 4 summarise the impactsassociated with the two vegetable oil

manufacturing systems. In this model, wehave excluded the levels of GWP for bothmanufacturing facilities. Indeed, it isreasonable to assume they arecomparable.

As is visible in Table 5, the amounts ofinputs per unit of RBWD MSO increasedramatically. Indeed the amount of totalGWP increases from 0.000356963 to0.000472534 when using mechanicalextraction.

ConclusionOn-farm activities are the highestcontributor to global warming whenthoroughly examining the completemeadowfoam seed oil supply chain. NaturalPlant Products has chosen no-till farming,including shrewd use of herbicides andpesticides, in an effort to reduce petroleumusage, one of the highest environmentalcost inputs of farming.

Furthermore, hexane extraction is amore efficient process for capturing oil fromthe seeds of meadowfoam. For this reason,Natural Plant Products uses hexane in itsmanufacture of meadowfoam seed oil forthe personal care industry.

This study has shown that increasingmanufacturing efficiency decreases theamount of land needed to grow crops, alsodecreasing the amount of diesel fuelburned. Given the fact that over 80% ofmeadowfoam seed oil’s GWP comes fromon-farm activities, reducing acreagenecessarily reduces negative environmentaloutcomes occurring from farming of anycrop that is grown.

Is hexane extraction the ‘greener’ optionwhen looking at a transparent supplychain? It is distinctly possible.

References1 Schneider G, Gohla S, Kaden W et al. Skin

Cosmetics. Ullmann’s Encyclopedia of IndustrialChemistry, 2005.

PC

2 Rosillo-Calle F, Pelkmans L, Walter A. A global

overview of vegetable oils, with reference to

biofuels. IEA Bioenergy Task 40, 2009.3 USDA. Major vegetable oils: World supply and

distribution (country view). USDA ForeignAgricultural Service, 2013

4 Global Personal Care Ingredients 2010:Emollients Market Analysis. Kline & Co, 2010

5 National Resources Council. Advancing the

science of climate change. Washington DC:National Academies Press, 2010.

6 Wigley T et al. Implications of proposed CO2

emissions limitations. Intergovernmental Panel onClimate Change, 1997.

7 Oregon State University, 2009. OregonAgricultural Enterprise Budgets [Available at:http://arec.oregonstate.edu/oaeb].

8 Steiner JJ, Gavin WE, Mueller-Warrant GW et al.Conservation practices in western Oregonperennial grass seed systems: I. Impacts of directseeding and maximal residue management onproduction. Agronomy Journal 2006; 99 (2):177-86.

9 Oregon Statve University College of AgriculturalScience, 2015. Slug Wars. [Available at:http://oregonprogress.oregonstate.edu/winter-1997/slug-wars]

10 Iowa State University. Soil erosion and water

quality. Ames, Iowa: ISU Deparment of Agronomy,2003.

11 US EPA, 2005. Agricultural Nonpoint Source FactSheet (Online) [Available at: http://water.epa.gov/polwaste/nps/agriculture_facts.cfm].

12 Ralph Turner P. Fats and oils quality,

characteristics, extraction and refining overview,2010 (Online) [Available at: http://www.uvm.edu/extension/cropsoil/wp-content/uploads/turner_refining.pdf].

13 Anderson GE. AOCS Lipid Library – SolventExtraction, 2011 (Online) [Available at:http://lipidlibrary.aocs.org/processing/solventextract/ index.htm].

14 Union of Concerned Scientists. Delivering the

green: Reducing trucks’ climate impact while

saving at the pump. Cambridge, MA: UCSPublications, 2009.

Table 5: Total GWP.

Hexane extraction/gallon Mechanical extraction/galllon RBWD oil RBWD oil

N2O equiv, MT 1.30115E-07 1.72241E-07

N2O converted to COs, MT 4.03356E-05 5.33948E-05

CO2 emissions, MT 0.000440979 0.000559561

Freight 8.40168E-05 8.70274E-05

Total global warming potential 0.000356963 0.000472534

Natural Plant Products, Inc. Tel: 503-363-6402 sales@meadowfoam.com www.meadowfoam.com