The Special Economic Zone in a’ Duqm (SEZD) celebrated the laying of the foundation stone for OMR24 million Sebacic Oman Refinery Company for the production of Sebacic acid which is the first project of its kind in the Middle East.
The project will be built on a land area of about 400,000 square meters to produce the Sebacic acid, which is extracted from castor oil and enters in many of the chemical industry, manufacturers of plastics and medicines.
Researchers performed an experiment where castor oil, ethyl ester were prepared by 
transesterification using potassium hydroxide (KOH) as a catalyst and tested on a four-stroke, single-cylinder compression ignition engine. The test was carried out at a constant speed of 3000 rpm at different loads.
The results represent a substantial decrease in carbon monoxide (CO) emission with an increasing biodiesel percentage.
CastorOil.in brings you the weekly report of castor seed price at Bombay Commodities Exchange.
Check out the table and the graphical data.
| Price Date | Rupees Per Quintal |
| 20 Sep | 3835 |
| 21 Sep | 3855 |
| 22 Sep | 3865 |
| 23 Sep | 3810 |
Levosulpiride (LSP) is a hydrophobic benzamide derivative used in the treatment of schizophrenia. In order to enhance the drug absorption and bioavailability, 
scientists from India did a research to formulate castor oil based globule.
Results showed that at a certain ratio of castor oil, polyethylene glycol and Tween 20, the formulation had shown uniform globule size, no interactions of LSP with Self Nano Emulsifying Drug Delivery System components and a higher pharmacokinetic parameter than that of commercial preparation.
Ricinoleic acid, derived from castor oil has an anti-inflammatory action following topical application. However ricinoleic acid goes rancid when it is exposed to oxygen. 
Hence scientists from Egypt performed an experiment to encapsulate ricinoleic acid into ethyl cellulose (EC) electrospun fibres. Electrospinning parameters of EC were optimized to obtain bead-free fibres.
RA at different concentrations was encapsulated into EC fibres. Release profile was reported and encapsulation was demonstrated via morphological analysis.
Scientists from Brazil performed an experiment to optimize and investigate the biodiesel production from castor oil using microwave-assisted hybrid transesterfication process under various conditions such as microwave power, treatment time, ethanol:oil ratio and catalyst concentration (KOH).
Results showed that under optimal conditions the predicted biodiesel production was found to be 95% with a desirability value of 0.998.
Scientists from India performed an experiment where asphalt which is commonly used for road pavement was modified using castor oil based polyurethane to improve the properties of asphalt such as resistance to permanent deformation and to 
reduce the fatigue.
Polyurethane pre-polymer (PUP) was prepared by using castor oil and toluene diisocyanate (TDI). Asphalt modification was done using castor oil (C.O.) and PUP. Results showed that polymer modified asphalt showed improvement in properties such as hardness and softening point thereby making the pavement application smooth.
Scientists from Colombia performed an experiment where a kinetic model was developed for high CO2 pressure carbonation of epoxidized castor oil to be used in the 
production of thermoset polymers and non-isocyanate polyurethanes.
Carbonated castor oil was produced from the epoxidized oil at 100–130 °C and a constant pressure of CO2 (0.5 MPa). Because the polyfunctional character of the product, it could find applications as monomer and as a synthetic building block for other bio-based chemicals.
Scientists from India performed an experiment where they invented castor oil derived acrylic copolymers which can be used for surface coating applications.
Acrylic polyols containing hydroxy functional groups derived from castor oil were synthesized in the presence of an initiator. The synthesized resins when cured with suitable polyisocyanates or amino resin cross-linkers provided tough, glossy and chemical & weather resistant coatings.
Scientists from India performed an experiment to synthesize castor oil based acrylated derivatives to be used as potential lubricant basestocks. The acylated 
derivatives of castor oil, castor oil fatty acid methyl and 2-ethylhexyl esters were synthesized using different anhydrides in about 90–95% yield. All the products were structurally characterized using NMR and IR spectral data.
Results showed that castor oil could have use in hydraulic and metal working fluids and other industrial fluids with their wide range of properties.