How are sunflower and safflower seeds used to make cooking oils?

Sunflower and safflower seeds are processed to extract cooking oils primarily through mechanical pressing or solvent extraction.1

The modern extraction process typically follows these steps:
* Preparation: Seeds are cleaned to remove debris, and their shells or hulls are removed.21
* Grinding: The kernels are ground into a coarse meal using rollers or hammer mills to break down cellular structures.21
* Extraction:
* Mechanical Pressing: The meal is subjected to high pressure in hydraulic or screw presses. If performed without heat, the result is cold-pressed oil, which is highly valued for its purity and flavor. Heating the meal during pressing increases the yield but may introduce more impurities.21
* Solvent Extraction: For large-scale operations, volatile solvents like hexane are percolated through the meal to dissolve and recover remaining oil that mechanical pressing cannot reach.1

Once extracted, these oils are widely used for cooking and in the production of margarine due to their high content of polyunsaturated fats. The remaining solid residue, or meal, is commonly utilized as a high-protein supplement for livestock.32