Category Archives: Castor Oil – Research

Extraction and Characterization of Drilling Fluid from Castor Oil

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Research Article – Drilling fluid is an essential component in drilling operations. It is used to prevent blowouts by creating adequate hydrostatic pressure, lubricating the walls of a well and the drill string, flushing to the surface of cuttings, and keeping the drill bit clean and cool. Extraction, characterization and formation of drilling fluid from castor seed oil were investigated. The castor seeds used were obtained from a local market and the extraction of the oil was done mechanically. The extracted oil characteristics such as specific gravity, pH, acid value, iodine value, saponification value, refractive index and viscosity were within the standard range before before formulating it to drilling fluid by the addition of additives. The result of the formulation obtained showed that the formulated drilling fluid had an electrical stability of 222 V, High Pressure/High Temperature of 8.8, mass funnel viscosity at 30 and 50 oC were 26.5 and 25 s, respectively; chemical alkalinity was 0.3 and excess lime of 0.39 Ib/bbI. The findings in this research have shown that formulated drilling fluid from castor seed oil is safe as drilling fluid and has characteristics close to that of the standard drilling mud equivalent circulating density 99. The formulated drilling fluid can adequately serve as an alternative to the commercial products.

Read:http://www.issr-journals.org/ijias/abstract.php?article=IJIAS-13-091-02

US Castor Crop Concerns and Solutions

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Hello Readers,

This post contains some excerpts from an article on US castor crop research published by the South West Farm Press Editorial, US .

We thought to share with you since we found it interesting. Hope you like it.

There is little or no commercial castor production in the U.S.  Castor production in US comes with a reputation, largely related to the fear of growing a potentially toxic crop. Ricin, a protein toxin found only in the endosperm of castor seed, can represent up to 5 percent of the meal weight remaining after oil extraction.

Researchers say the long term solution for castor crop development in US is to develop castor varieties that greatly reduce toxicity. Some of the ongoing research efforts in US include:

A group of Texas A&M and Texas Tech researchers have been working together on a castor variety that greatly reduces risk and still offers value in production. Working with the best tools agricultural science can offer, they have aggressively developed a semi-dwarf castor variety with reduced ricin levels and one that allows for mechanized production.

A new variety known as the Brigham, so named after the advancement of castor research by Dr. R.D. Brigham of the USDA Research Center in Lubbock, has provided promising results, effectively reducing ricin toxicity by 70 to 90 percent. A semi-dwarf variety, Brigham also allows for mechanized commercial production.

Read more to know more about the castor research efforts in US : http://southwestfarmpress.com/management/bio-science-addresses-concerns-over-castor-crop?page=1

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Some Useful Castor Research Articles

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Hello readers,

This blog post provides you with linteresting articles that would be useful for the castor oil researchers

Some interesting links

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Some Innovative & Unique Solar Power

Castor Oil in Artificial Tear Reduces Evaporation; Helps Dry Eye Sufferers

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Researchers from the Optometric Technology Group in London have found that an eye drop containing castor oil and demulcents was associated with a reduction in tear film evaporation rate and increase in ocular comfort.

The castor oil was detected in the basal tear after 30 days of use and at least 3 hours after the last eye drop instillation.Researchers conducted a prospective bilateral evaluation of evaporative dry eye sufferers using Refresh Optive Advanced (Allergan) for 1 month. Results showed that a detectable amount of castor oil in the tear samples was associated with a lower evaporation rate at 30% [low] relative humidity.

Read more: http://www.healio.com/optometry/cornea-external-disease/news/print/primary-care-optometry-news/%7B46c51a6a-bfc0-48e5-9c90-09a88e3070d8%7D/study-shows-castor-oil-in-artificial-tear-decreases-evaporation-increases-comfort

Pumpsets Can Now Use Castor Oil As A Fuel

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Sheik Mastan Vali, a Indian mechanic by profession, who has been crusading the use of castor oil to run motor cars and protect the environment from pollution, has designed a novel agricultural pumpset, which could be operated using castor oil.

He claims that one litre diesel would help the farmer to operate the pumping machine for one hour, but the castor oil would help him operate the machine for three to four hours because of the presence of natural lubricants in castor oil.

A prototype pump engine which uses the castor oil can lift water from wells with the depth of 70 meters.

Read more from: http://www.thehindu.com/todays-paper/tp-national/tp-andhrapradesh/pumpset-that-runs-on-castor-oil-designed/article4285130.ece

Methods of Production of Novel Castor Oil Derivatives

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This research carried out at the National Center for Scientific Research, France discusses the production methods of the castor oil derivatives.

There exist different approaches for synthesizing polymers based on vegetable oils. The first most widespread one consists of considering triglycerides as base materials, the latter may be epoxidized and for example alcoholized or hydroformylated in order to make them functional and polymerizable.

An oil is a mixture of triglycerides (triesters) formed by condensation of fatty acids and of glycerol. The high number of fatty acid types (up to 24) present in each fat and the multiple possibilities of their combinations with glycerol molecules have the result that the fats are highly complex mixtures of compounds, the properties of which vary from one oil to another. The nature of the triglycerides may therefore vary within a same oil.

The reactive sites present in a triglyceride are mainly double bonds and ester functions. The reactivity of double bonds allows introduction of hydroxyl functions, thereby allowing access to polyhydroxylated monomers. Nevertheless, it is impossible to obtain triglycerides having perfectly defined structures and functionalities.

The present study provides a method for preparing compounds from vegetable oil, with which the aforementioned drawbacks may be overcome. The research work also attempts to provide a method for preparing compounds derived from vegetable oil, comprising the use of catalysts better fitting environmental expectations than most of the homogeneous catalysts used and which limit the secondary reactions.

Production of Polypropylene Glycol Polyricinoleate, Butanediol Polyricinoleate,Butanediol Polyricinoleate, Butanediol Esters, Butanediol Diesters , Propanediol Esters have been discussed.

Know more about the research work from here – http://www.freepatentsonline.com/y2013/0005936.html 

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India – Researchers Develop Polyurethane Foams Using Castor Oil Polyols

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Researchers at the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology,Hyderabad has developed the polyurethane–clay nanocomposite foams by replacing part of the synthetic polyol with castor oil derivatives. Hydroxylated castor oil was converted into diethanol amide by transamidation and the resulting polyol was formulated into water-blown foams. Modified montmorillonite clay was used as nanofiller in different amounts viz. 0.5%, 1.0%, 2.0%, and 5.0% by total weight of the foam formulation. Rheological measurements on the polyol–clay mixtures indicated that up to 1% clay loading there is no significant change in the viscosity with shear rate and beyond 2%, shear thinning occurred. X-ray diffraction studies further substantiated these results. The effect of the modified clay on the density, mechanical properties such as compression strength, compression modulus, and microstructure of the foams were investigated. The filler thus added had a reinforcing effect on the foam as observed in the density and compression strength measurements. Differential scanning calorimetric studies on Tg and dynamic mechanical analyses on the modulus clearly indicated that 1% clay loading and above led to exfoliation and plasticizing effect. Exfoliated nanocomposites in compositions containing 1% clay and more yielded a much higher nucleation rate than intercalated ones leading to reduced cell size as observed by optical and scanning electron microscopy. Thus, castor oil, which is readily available, relatively inexpensive, and environmentally benign nonedible oil, has been successfully used to prepare filled semirigid foams which can find application in insulation and packing.

Source: http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/pc.22543/abstract

US Based Start-up Working On Non-toxic Castor Plant

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Nova Synthetix, an agricultural biotechnology start-up, based at US,is looking to bring to market a castor-oil plant variety that does not contain a toxin. The company is commercializing a non-toxic castor plant that produces a unique fatty acid in its seed oil which will be used as a high-value chemical feedstock. They are contracting with growers and developing downstream markets for their castor product.

Nova Synthetix, has recently received a $50,000 grant from a private, US based non-profit corporation, named North Carolina Biotechnology Center.

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G Protein-Coupled Receptor Mediates the Action Of Castor Oil

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Castor oil is one of the oldest drugs. When given orally, it has a laxative effect and induces labor in pregnant females. The effects of castor oil are mediated by ricinoleic acid, a hydroxylated fatty acid released from castor oil by intestinal lipases. Despite the wide-spread use of castor oil in conventional and folk medicine, the molecular mechanism by which ricinoleic acid acts remains unknown. Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Heart and Lung Research, Germany have elucidated that the EP3 prostanoid receptor is specifically activated by ricinoleic acid and it mediates the pharmacological effects of castor oil. In mice lacking EP3 receptors, the laxative effect and the uterus contraction induced via ricinoleic acid are absent. Although a conditional deletion of the EP3 receptor gene in intestinal epithelial cells did not affect castor oil-induced diarrhea, mice lacking EP3 receptors only in smooth-muscle cells were unresponsive to this drug. Thus, the castor oil metabolite ricinoleic acid activates intestinal and uterine smooth-muscle cells via EP3 prostanoid receptors. These findings identify the cellular and molecular mechanism underlying the pharmacological effects of castor oil and indicate a role of the EP3 receptor as a target to induce laxative effects.

Read: http://www.pnas.org/content/early/2012/05/15/1201627109.full.pdf

Castor Oil Research, Production and Challenges – A Review

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In this article, castor historical research information is compiled and  the tremendous future potential of the plant is studied.Topics discussed in this review include: (i) germplasm, genetics, breeding, biotic stresses, genomesequencing, and biotechnology; (ii) agronomic production practices, diseases, and abiotic stresses; (iii) management and reduction of toxins for the use of castor meal as both an animal feed and an organic fertilizer; (iv) future industrial uses of castor including renewable fuels; (v) world production, consumption, and prices; and (vi) potential and challenges for increased castor production.

Read the article from :https://dl.sciencesocieties.org/publications/aj/pdfs/104/4/853