The Existing Markets and Applications for Castor Oil and Castor Oil Derivatives

• Castor oil manufacturing is similar to that of other oil seeds and hence the oil can be manufactured utilizing the existing equipments that are locally available. The castor seeds contain about 48 to 50 percent oil by weight, and the extracted castor oil can be further processed to derive a number of derivatives, currently used in numerous industrial applications.
• India has exported a record high of nearly 400000 tonnes of castor oil in 2010 as a result of heavy demands from importers abroad.
• India is the largest producer of castor seeds in the world with China and Brazil being the next two. It exports about 15,000 T of castor seeds per year
• The global market for generation II castor oil derivatives is estimated at about $300 million. For generation III derivatives, where half of the generation II derivatives are converted, the estimated market worth is close to $350 million.
• Paint industries greatly rely on resins derived from castor oil to occupy 20% of total domestic consumption in India. Cosmetics, perfumeries and rubeer & plastic units consume it equally and castor oil driven chemical derivatives help them to manufacture diverse personal care items and bio-polymers etc. As pharmaceutical and others like biofuel units currently produce only limited goods with castor oil, they occupy least share in domestic usage of this industrial oil.
• While castor oil is popular in itself, its various derivatives and their unique properties and consequent applications make castor oil even more important in the plant and vegetable oils hierarchy.
• Like other vegetable oils and animal fats, castor oil is a triglyceride, which chemically is a glycerol molecule with each of its three hydroxyl group esterified with a long chain fatty acid. Apart from ricinoleic acid, the other fatty acids present are linoleic (4.2%), oleic (3.0%), stearic (1%), palmitic (1%), di-hydroxystearic acid (0.7%), linolenic acid (0.3%), and eicosanoic acid (0.3%).
• European Union imports over 1,00,000 tons of castor oil annually, and almost all its imports are from India.
• Fuerst Day Lawson is one of the leading Castor Oil suppliers in Europe with over 40 years experience buying directly from the producers in India, China and Brazil. The company supplies castor oil into Europe and China, selling approximately 40,000 MT per year via storage tanks in Rotterdam and Marseille, and via direct deliveries in flexitanks and drums.
• Because of its higher polar hydroxyl groups, castor oil is not only compatible with but will also plasticize a wide variety of natural and synthetic resins, waxes, polymers and elastomers.
• Castor oil and its derivatives today find major application in soaps, lubricants, grease, hydraulic brake fluids, paints, polymers, perfumery products, surfactants, surface coatings and inks, telecom & engineering plastics, pharma, rubber chemicals, polishes, flypapers, and cosmetic derivatives.
• Companies such as BASF produce plastics from renewable resources which contains about 60 per cent sebacic acid – a derivative of castor oil.
• The world's largest single use of castor oil in one product, outside the lubricants markets, is in the manufacture of polyamide 11 (Nylon 11). The commercially available polyamide made from castor oil is Arkema's (earlier Atofina) Rilsan Nylon 11.
• The castor oil market price experiences significant volatility. Uncertain oil supply, recent development of substitutes, long storing periods & hoarding are the main reasons for the price fluctuations. In spite of these factors, there is invariably a minimum quantity of this commodity that is consumed annually by advanced countries.
• The most suitable soils for castor are deep, moderately fertile, with slightly acidic conditions, well drained, sandy loams. The fertilizer dose recommended for castor is 40 N-40 P-20 K kg/ha. The minimum rainfall needed by the castor crop is 38-50 cm (15-20 in.) Some of the high yielding castor varieties used in India are NPH-1 (Aruna), GAUCH-4, and TMVCH.
• While castor is an important crop known for its versatility of uses, in many parts of the western world, including the US, the crop is not planted on a large scale. The main reason for this is the ricin, a toxin present in the seed coat. Besides the ricin toxin, there's another compelling reason why this crop has fallen out of favor with growers. The shiny, beetle-shaped seeds contain powerful allergens. People who work with the off-white meal ground from castor beans may develop allergic reactions, such as hives or asthma.
• Castor beans are graded based on moisture content, percentage of cracked and broken seeds, and amount of foreign material. The allowable moisture content is 6 per cent.
• The varieties of castor differ in the branching habits of plant, colour of the stem and branches (red and green), the nature of capsules (smooth or shiny), duration (early or late) and the size of seed.
• Average seed yields range from 900–1000 kg/ha under irrigation, and 500 kg/ha without adequate moisture. Some improved open-pollinated varieties in Brazil yield 1,300 kg/ha, with exceptional yields up to 5,000 kg/ha. Average Indian yields are about 1000 kg/ha. Under exceptional circumstances in the state of Gujarat in India, seed yields of 6000 Kg / hectare have been recorded, but it should be noted that these yields have been registered only for some limited growth areas.