As part of my research on Jatropha curcas and the use of Jatropha as a feedstock for South Africa I came across this Castor Bean research:
The article concludes:
Although castor is probably indigenous to Eastern Africa, today castor is distributed worldwide. Castor establishes itself easily as a “native” plant and can often be found on wasteland, near rail roads and has recently also been used extensively as decorative plant in parks etc. Castor seed contains between 40% and 60% oil, which is rich in tryglycerides, mainly ricinolein and provides a great natural resource for Biodiesel production.
Global castor seed production is around 1 million tons per year. Leading producing areas are India, China, Brazil and the former USSR. There are several active breeding programmes for castor.
Dove Biotech visualises that Castor Bean in arid or semi arid regions using local varieties, can provide a valuable resource for Biodiesel production. This type of holistic agricultural
approach provides the regional farmers and local Biodiesel industry with two strategic benefits;
1) For the regional farmers the planting and harvesting of local varieties of Castor Bean on marginal lands provides the farmers with not only additional income, but also provides stabilization of marginal lands that are susceptible to erosion and through either water or wind.
2) The local Biodiesel industry benefits in that they are guaranteed a continuous supply of raw material for the production of Biodiesel which in turn, gives viable economics to the local Biodiesel industry overall.
More articles on the castor bean that mention South Africa and other.
- Castor Bean is actually a tall, leafy plant that originated in tropical South Africa, and is now found in many tropical and temperate climates worldwide.
- When thinking about biodiesel production, cost plays an important role and castor bean oil is one of the lowest priced oils, which makes it quite effective to use. It has proven itself as one of the most beneficial of all oils to use however they are still doing research to determine other variables as well.
- Castor Bean Oil as a biodiesel.
