Castor Oil Industry Reference & Resources - CastorOil Links, Castor Oils Web Site Link, Castor Derivative Online Resources       CastorOil.in - WWW Resources for Castor Industry The Only Online Bookmark You’ll Ever Need for Anything Castor          At CastorOil.in we have a good number of links to castor oil & castor derivatives related web sites presented in this page. Some of the links could be popular, others less so, but we hope that all the links presented here are useful to you.   We hope you enjoy this page and are able to derive value from it.   If you find our site useful, do bookmark us, and please feel free to link back to CastorOil.in from your site.   www.castoroil.in , remember the name, friends!   The following are the sections in this page:   Castor Crop Overview Castor Bean Oil  Extraction Process Castor Oil & Castor Oil Derivatives Castor Oil Uses Castor Production & Trade Oils & Oil Seeds Resources   Note: If you are looking to sourcing castor oil or castor oil derivative products, please see Castor Sourcing Directory               Castor Crop Overview            Castor Plant History & Overview   The castor plant has been known to man for ages. Castor beans have been found in ancient Egyptian tombs ( Castor Oil Info from PDR Health , Castorbean History & Connection to ALS – H-Net , Castor Oil Info from Families.com , Castor Information from Indian Spring Herbs ) dating back to 4000 B.C. ( Castor Oil Information from Holistic Nutrition , Castor Beans from Wikipedia ), and the oil was used thousands of years ago in wick lamps (see Oil Lamps Wiki , Castor Oil from Encyclopedia of Alternative Medicine ) for lighting. To many people the castor plant is just an overgrown, undesirable weed ( Weed Science Society of America ), and yet it produces one of nature's finest natural oils ( Plant Oils Fact Sheet from Environmental Protection Agency, Govt of USA ).   Castor (Ricinus communis L.) is cultivated around the world primarily because of the commercial importance of its oil. India ( India from CIA Factbook ) is the world's largest producer of castor seed and meets most of the global demand for castor oil, contributing over 60% of the entire global production.   The shiny seeds of castor plants ( Castor Bean from Drago Cactoid , Ricinus communis Profile & Pictures form Calfora ) have very beautiful and intricate designs. Like the fingerprints of humans ( The History of Fingerprints ), the beautiful designs on castor seeds exhibit infinite genetic variation, and no two seeds have the same design.   The spiny seed pod ( Seeds & Seed Pods from the Seed Site ) is composed of three sections or carpels ( Carpel from Wikipedia ) which split apart at maturity. Each section contains a single seed, and as the carpel dries and splits open, the seed is often ejected with considerable force.   Castor oil is extracted from the seeds by either pressing ( How Vegetable Oil is Pressed from University of North Carolina ) or solvent extraction ( What is Solvent Extraction from University of Akron , A Citizen’s Guide to Solvent Extraction – PDF Format). Because of its unlimited industrial applications, castor oil enjoys tremendous demand world-wide. Castor is an important non-edible oilseed ( Oilseeds from National Institute of Oil Products , Chemistry of New Industrial Oilseed Crops ) crop. Because of its unlimited industrial applications, castor oil enjoys tremendous demand world-wide. It is cultivated in 30 different countries on commercial scale, of which India, China ( China from CIA Factbook ), Brazil ( Brazil from CIA Factbook ), Russia ( Russia from CIA Factbook ), Thailand ( Thailand from CIA Factbook ), Ethiopia ( Ethiopia from CIA Factbook ) and Philippines ( Philippines from CIA Factbook ) are major castor growing accounts about 88 per cent of the world's production (See also: Castor Info from Ienica.net ). Historically, Brazil, China and India have been the key producing countries meeting global requirements. However, in early 90's, Brazilian farmers moved away to more lucrative cash crops, and surge in domestic demand in China made them net importers, leaving India to meet the global demand.   Castor plants have not been farmed on a commercial scale in the United States since the early 1970s . Recently however, Lesquerella fendleri ( Lesquerella from New Crops Research of USWCL , Storybook Future for Lesquerella – Agricultural Research - PDF, Lesquerella Info from Arizona University ) , commonly known as bladderpod or popweed because of its balloon-like seed pods, has emerged as a strong potential candidate to replace castor plants as a source of hydroxy fatty acids. It grows well in the arid climates of the Southwestern United States, it does not produce allergens ( Allergens Info from Lactose UK ), and it does not produce the ricin toxin. Thus, the mash or seed cake that remains after the oil is pressed out can be used as animal feed.     Sowing Time Sowing of castor with onset of monsoon is found most beneficial in rained condition. However, sowing can be done up to first fortnight of August without reduction in yield under irrigated condition.   Cropping Season In India, which is a major producer of the castor crop, castor planting season is during July or August and harvested around December or January ( Castor Oil Info from Indiamart ). The seedpods are dried, de-podded and brought to the market immediately after harvesting. Castor seeds arrivals start during November in the south of India , whereas in the north (in states such as Rajasthan and Gujarat ), the castor seeds season starts from February. Based on this cycle, one can suitably schedule delivery cycles as well.   Price of Castor Seeds   This is a difficult thing to comment on, since price variations and fluctuations are quite significant for this commodity. (See also: Castor Seed Information from Multi Commodity Exchange, India )   Castor Seed Packaging   The normal packing is either 50 Kgs or 70 Kgs, and the products are usually packed in gunny bags ( Gunny Bag Definition from Die.net )   Other Specifications for Castor Seeds   While there are no major specifications for castor seeds, one of the aspects usually considered is the location where the castor seed was grown and harvested.   More:   Castor – Return of an Old Crop (Purdue University Web Page) How to Grow Castor Castor Plant – Beautiful but Deadly from Sign on San Diego Castor Plant Information from Innvista Development of Castor Bean Production in France – from Purdue University    Castor Oil, the Palm of Christ from Idaho Observer Castor from Herbal Gram               Castor Bean          About Mr. Castor Bean   Castor Bean, Castor Oil Plant – Ricinus communis The Castor Bean Castor Bean – Definition & Much More from Answers.com Development of Castor Bean Production in France Castorbean – Castor Bean Plant Information from Cornell University Database Ricin Toxin from Castorbean Plant The Castor Bean Trees, Shrubs Page Energy in a Castor Bean Ricin Toxin from Castor Bean Plant, Ricinus Communis     The Castor Ricin   The Castor seed contains the deadly poison ricin within it. This is how it gets its botanical name Ricinus communis. More about ricin from:   Ricin Toxin from Castor Bean Plant – Cornell University Facts about Ricin from Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC), USA Ricin Medical Information from eMedicine Ricin Summary from NBC Med Ricin from Wikipedia Ricin Toxin Ricin Essential Data from CBW Info Ricin Overview from eMedicine Health                     Oil  Extraction Process            Castor Oil Extraction   The extraction of oil from castor seed is done in a similar manner to that for most other oil seeds. The seed capsules are collected when ripe. As the capsules dry, they split open and discharge the seeds. The seeds are then cleaned, cooked and dried prior to extraction. Cooking is done in order to coagulate protein, which is necessary to permit efficient extraction, and to free the oil for efficient pressing.   The first stage of extraction is pre-pressing, using a high pressure continuous screw press – called the expeller. Extracted oil is filtered. Material removed from the oil, called foot, is fed back into the stream of fresh material. Material discharged from the press, called cake, contains 8 to 10 percent oil. It is crushed into a coarse meal, and subjected to solvent extraction with hexane or heptane.   Oil Purification   Once the oil has been expressed from the seed, it is necessary to remove any impurities from the oil. The oil is essentially a pure triglyceride, and contains almost 90% of glyceryl tricinoleate. It is the ricinoleic triglyceride that is needed in order to produce high quality castor oil.   The characteristic properties of castor oil include a higher density, viscosity, and reactivity than common triglycerides found in other vegetable oils. These properties are exploited while refining the oil.   The steps to refining the crude oil include:   Settling and Degumming of the oil - Done to remove the aqueous phase from the lipi