Castor

• Castor bean oil has more than 100 industrial uses, in lubricants, plastics, soaps, hydraulic and brake fluids, paints, dyes, coatings, inks, cold resistant plastics, waxes and polishes, nylon, pharmaceuticals and perfumes.
• Yields reach 1.5 tons of oil and 2.5 tons of cake per hectare
• Castor beans contain 40% oil.
• Castor bean cake is an excellent natural fertilizer and pesticide.
• Castor beans grow well on marginal land, and therefore this crop does not compete with food crops and offers a solution that can transform marginal land into a viable economic growing area.
• Crop rainfall requirements are low (average annual rainfall of 700 mm).
• The crop absorbs CO2 from the atmosphere.

Castor oil is produced from the Castor bean (Ricinus communis). The castor bean produces seeds with oil content of around 40%, and the oil is produced from the beans by pressing and solvent extraction. Currently, both beans and oil are produced principally by India and Brazil and used mainly for industrial applications in the United States, Europe and Japan. Castor bean oil is made up almost entirely of ricinoleic acid triglycerides.

Each hectare of castor bean plants yields around 4 tons, providing 1.5 tons of crude oil. The plant also absorbs carbon dioxide, thereby reducing greenhouse gas concentrations in the atmosphere - the estimated carbon dioxide absorption capacity for castor bean plants is 34.6 tons per hectare, with two growing cycles per year.

Castor bean oil is ‘hard oil’, which means that seed oil content is relatively high. When compared with other vegetable oils, castor bean oil is distinguished by its high content (over 85%) of ricinoleic acid - a higher proportion of fatty hydroxyacids than any other vegetable oil. Castor bean oil’s unsaturated bond, high molecular weight (298), low melting point (5ºC) and very low solidification point (-12ºC to -18ºC) are properties that make it industrially useful, with highest and most stable viscosity of any vegetable oil.

Castor bean oil’s properties fulfil most requirements for efficient biofuel and biodiesel. According to one school of thought, castor bean oil is the best base for biodiesel production because it is the only vegetable oil that is soluble in alcohol. That means that it does not require heat during the production process and has a very low energy requirement for its transformation into fuel.