A process for recovering oil from a natural product selected from the group which consists of oil-bearing seed and oil-bearing fruit, comprising the steps of:
- (a) comminuting and conditioning said natural product to facilitate release of oil therefrom;
- (b) in a first stage, decomposing the natural product comminuted and conditioned in step (a) in the presence of a solvent capable of solvent-extracting said oil from said natural product and being separable from extracted oil by distillation by subjecting a mixture of the natural product from step (a) and said solvent previously charged with the oil from a successive stage to a conical shear field formed between tool parts projecting toward one another of a rotor and a stator of at least one rotor-stator unit generating a multiplicity of shear actions as said rotor is rotated relative to said stator and said mixture moves outwardly to decompose said natural substance into fine particles and extracting oil into a solvent phase formed by said solvent and the oil extracted thereby;
- (c) in said first stage, separating a solid phase from a dispersion of solid particles in said solvent phase;
- (d) filtering said solid particles from said dispersion to form a solvent phase free from said particles;
- (e) distilling said solvent phase subsequent to filtering in step (d) to yield said oil and a solvent substantially free from said oil;
- (f) in a second stage, further decomposing the solid phase separated in step (c) and solid particles filtered in step (d) in the presence of said solvent by subjecting a mixture of solids from steps (c) and (d) and said solvent previously charged with the oil from a successive stage to a conical shear field formed between tool parts projecting toward one another of a rotor and a stator of at least one rotor-stator unit generating a multiplicity of shear actions as the latter rotor is rotated relative to the respective stator and the respective mixture moves outwardly to extracting oil into a the respective solvent;
- (g) in said second stage, separating solids from the respective solvent and feeding the respective solvent containing oil to said unit of said first stage;
- (h) in a third stage, further decomposing the solids separated in step (g) and subjecting a mixture of solids from step (g) and said solvent previously charted with the oil from a successive stage to a conical shear field formed between tool parts projecting toward one another of a rotor and a stator of at least one rotor-stator unit generating a multiplicity of shear actions as the latter rotor is rotated relative to the respective stator and the respective mixture moves outwardly to extracting oil into the respective solvent;
- (i) in said third stage, separating solids from the respective solvent and feeding the respective solvent containing oil to said unit of said second stage;
- and
- (j) in a fourth stage, further decomposing the solids separated in step (i) and subjecting a mixture of solids from step (i) and said solvent from distillation in step (e) to a conical shear field formed between tool parts projecting toward one another of a rotor and a stator of at least one rotor-stator unit generating a multiplicity of shear actions as the latter rotor is rotated relative to the respective stator and the respective mixture moves outwardly to extracting oil into the respective solvent;
- and
- (k) in said fourth stage, separating solids from the respective solvent and feeding the respective solvent containing oil to said unit of said third stage.