Category Archives: Castor Oil – Research

Castor oil for nanoparticle fabrication

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Nanotechnology is a emerging field of applied sciences where the functional units are in the magnitude of one part of a billion volume and appear to be elite operating than conventional micro units. In-organics and organic materials have been exploited to act as nanomaterials so far and silver nanoparticles(Ag-NPs) are one of the most potent materials among them for nano-composite fabrications.However scientists are hindered to generate Ag-NP units with expected level of functionality because they frequently suffer from limitations of aggregation of Ag-NPs with conventional  solvent medium that interferes with activities of final product and it made them to search for better performing medium. Finally a breakthrough solution to the problem came out from the Malaysian researchers when they revealed the fabrication of Ag-NPs by laser ablation of silver plate in the presence of castor oil.

Researchers claimed that the amphiphilic nature of the castor oil makes it to interact with silver element in an electrostatically regulated way which ultimately generates nanoparticles with expected characteristics.A quantitative analysis by normal distribution showed castor oil based nanoparticles are uniform in their size to a maximum extent and prove to be stable.Final material assessment was studied by advanced spectroscopic and electron microscopic techniques with definite controls.

Castor oil is an affordable material economically on a global scale and exploiting it for such type of advanced studies would shatter the barriers of expensiveness normally witnessed in technological development but it would have been better to realize when experimental confirmation had been made on activities of castor oil based Ag-NPs.

For reference: Zamiri et al, International Journal of Nanomedicine 2011:6 565–568

Novel nylons from castor oil

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Nylon is a  polymer with a wide spectrum of industrial applications.It is generally available in different grades depending on the nature of monomeric constituents of which Nylon6,10 and Nylon 11 are of special attention as their constituents are derived from castor oil.

Nylon 11 is a modern day polymer first produced by Arkema,France in 2009 by utilizing a castor oil derivative, aminoundecanoic acid which is unique to serve as a reactant for polymer synthesis by self-polycondensation. According to the firm,they commercialized the product as Rilsan and claims that the technology is accessed by firms Japan’ Unitika and Monnet and Sofila of France and proved to be satisfactory.They further claim that the products generated from Nylon 11 are dimensional stability, abrasion and thermal resistance etc.

In spite of its advantages,sources say that the yarns seem to be expensive and non biodegradable which may tend to raise the environmental and industrial concerns over the large and long range application of this wonderful polymer

For reference:http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_hb6547/is_2010_Nov/ai_n56249443/?tag=content;col1

Castor oil as a biopesticide for storage pests in pulses.

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Castor oil is well known for its applications in polymer, lubricant, pharmaceutical and detergent industries etc.However its utility continues in other sectors as well including entomology and pest management.Scientists have recently found that castor oil has pesticidal activity against the storage pest of pulses.Researchers associated with this study have conducted an assay by incubating the pest of cowpea pulse with its castor oil coated diet and monitored the mortality of the actively feeding adults  over variable intervals of time.They were able to observe a mortality of 86% in experimental sets that have been exposed to castor oil for maximum time duration of 72 hours at a highest concentration of 9ml/kg.In addition,those pests that fed have lost their reproductive fertility resulted in a complete block in the pest life cycle. The study also evaluated Hazelnut oil in a parallel way for pesticidal action but proved to be less effective than castor oil.

The experiment appears to be interesting to note castor oil as an effective bio-pesticide for the management of storage pests but a rigorous analysis is required for the spectrum of pesticidal activity and a systemic, physiological impact of castor oil coated pulse diet in humans metabolism in a long run.

For further reference: http://scialert.net/fulltext/?doi=jbs.2009.175.179&org=11

Plant oil stoves as alternate sources of energy

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Bio-fuel from renewable resources has extended its roots to kitchens as well.The German Firms, BSH Bosch and Siemens Hausgeräte GmbH (BSH) have introduced a new plant oil stove “The Protos”. They claim that their eco-friendly stove operates by sustainably generated bio-fuels from castor and other edible oils. It has a great potential to minimize the demand for wood fuels among the rural people.Further, its ecological significance can be best understood by its ability to reduce seven tonnes of carbondioxide emissions per year. After a successful preliminary testing from 2004 to 2006, the firms have sold about 800 plant oil stoves so far in Philippines and plans have been made to evaluate the performance of “The Protos” in other nations including India, Indonesia, South Africa and Tanzania.

Plant oil stoves are extraordinary alternate energy sources for household purposes but needs a complete profile regarding its biosafety, stability to liberate energy and a well defined production technology and volume to feed the stoves to achieve an uninterrupted supply of energy.

For Further Reference:http://www.siemens.com/sustainability/en/sustainable/protos.htm

Castor cultivation for biodiesel production.

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Biodiesel from castor is an emerging trend in Jamaica as it planned to use the oil seed crop to minimize its energy burden in a sustainable way.Petrojam Ethanol Limited(PEL) Chairman,Mr.Karl James stated that castor biodiesel is a potential renewable source, well suited to Jamaican conditions and can meet atleast 3% of the total consumption of 168 million gallons of diesel oil demand in the country.He further insisted that the initiative is to be implemented with caution and the formation of inter ministerial committee of Cabinet is mandatory to accelerate the program.Energy Minister, Philip Paulwell said that castor crop is well acclimatized to grow in any marginal region without competing with the principal crops.He also added that castor needs low maintainance and high oil content in beans  renders production effective.

It is vital to carefully select a castor breed and good agronomic practices for the implementation of the project with success.

For further reference:http://jamaica-gleaner.com/gleaner/20070810/business/business1.html

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Mozambican firm plans to establish a Castor oil plant:

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Mozambican newspaper Notícias reported that the firm, Miranda Caju has decided to install a Castor oil extraction plant worth US$3.5 million, with a production capacity of 6000 tonnes oil on an annual basis. This initiative was made after a mounting demand from the Cashew processors to use hydrogenated Castor oil for the shelling process in Cashew. They plan to cultivate the necessary castor in Meconta district that will provide only 12% of the raw material but the firm has already promoted the castor cultivation in the neighboring districts of Zambézia, Niassa and Cabo Delgado to satify the demands. The sources also informed that a part of the production will even be exported to other countries including South Africa and United States.

For details: http://www.macauhub.com.mo/en/news.php?ID=10962

Castor oil as source of biodiesel in Jamaica

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An agreement worth US$ 10.3 million has been signed between Petroleum Corporation of Jamaica’s Centre of Excellence for Renewable Energy (PCJ’s CERE) and the Caribbean Agricultural Research and Development Institute (CARDI) to conduct research on Castor and Jatropha for the production of Biodiesel.The proposed research project is  for three years,  from February 2011 to January 2014 and involves an establishment of pilot scale plant to produce biodiesel from castor raised at CARDI and subject the biodiesel for transport oriented applications.The managing director at PCJ Mr:Nigel Logan has said that the partnership would enable the nation to regulate it’s demand for oil and also to explore the native renewable sources for energy production.He further added that optimistic results would guide them to implement the Castor oil biodiesel in transport sector.It is important to remember that Jamaica has already made blends of ethanol with classical fuel which is being sold at energy service stations.

For details, please read:http://www.jis.gov.jm/news/hl.s1/26779

Some interesting links

Building Energy Analytics

Some Innovative & Unique Solar Power

Castor bio-diesel to minimize greenhouse gas emission

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Researchers from India have made bio-diesel from Castor oil by alkaline trans-esterification process and assessed it’s physio-chemical properties for locomotive engine based fuel applications.The experimentation with Castor bio-diesel showed promising results for the parameters studied and performed on par with the conventional diesel.They further claimed that by converting 10% of the total production of Castor oil to bio-diesel can minimize the global carbon-dioxide emissions by 79,782 tonnes per annum with zero carbon footprint.

For further reference:http://www.springerlink.com/content/u8535p22463r8377/

Castor biofuel a promising candidate for aviation services

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Evogene Ltd, an US based agri-biotech company has announced that castor plant proves to be viable alternate source for the production of biofuel(referred to as biojet) for the aviation services in the future.In a colloborative project work with NASA and Honeywell’s UOP technology, Evogene has made an evaluation of biojet produced from its castor varieties and reports that the oil has satisfied the fuel specifications of  ASTM D7566.It has declared that improved analytical tests will be conducted by NASA and US Air Force Research Laboratory further and points that the fuel from Castor would reduce green house gas emissions by 90% in comparison to fossil fuels.In the Castor Development Programme, the firm has decided to sell its product at US$ 45/Barell in future.

First Tetraploid Castor Plant from Israeli Firm, Kaiima

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Scientists from an Israeli seed company,Kaiima have produced the world’s first tetraploid castor plant with the objective of improving multiple traits in diploid castor including oil content for biofuel production, photosynthetic efficiency and better adaption to local field conditions.Reports say that the firm has followed an unique biotechnological technique called “Clean Genome Manipulation”(CGM) to achieve chromosomal doubling instead of a routine colchicine treatment  which seems to be associated with induction of DNA lesions in plants where the genome is manipulated by exact multiples of the basic chromosome number.The producers further believe that the plant would revolutionize the biofuel production through increased yield after a successful evaluation of field trials.In addition, the castor plant produced is not a Genetically Modified Plant says the product manager of Kaiima, Ariel Krolzig.

Further info: http://bit.ly/fJYLf5