Pure vegetable oil (PVO)

Pure vegetable oil is produced from vegetable oils that are derived from oil seeds by mechanical pressing or solvent extraction. Rapeseed is by far the most used feedstock in Europe, followed by sunflower. Outside the EU also soybean and palm derived oils are used. Pure vegetable oil can be used as automotive fuel, but is not suitable for use in regular diesel engines, due to unfavourable fuel properties, such as its very high viscosity, its poor thermal and hydrolytic stability, and its less favourable ignition qualities (low cetane number). However, pure vegetable oil can be used in diesel engines that are adapted specifically for the application of PVO. PVO is currently being used on a small scale in a number of EU Member States.