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AGRE-0039
Seed Oils for New Technical Applications SONCA |
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This project, supported under the ECLAIR Programme and completed
at 31 January 1995, aimed to produce vegetable oils which could
be used as raw materials within industries which currently use
petrochemicals. At present a large proportion of the global vegetable
oil production is used for food, although significant amounts
are used in existing applications for products such as lubricants,
surfactants and paints. Such applications, from a technical viewpoint,
depend on the characteristics of the oils and of their fatty acids
in particular. These can differ from plant species to plant species
in the relative amounts, chain length and degree of saturation
(number and position of double bonds). At present some industrial
niches are occupied by products from specific plants, such as
oil palm, soya or castor bean, which are imported into the EU.
The objective here was to increase the local availability of vegetable
oil sources suitable for industrial use. Two approaches were taken.:
the first took advantage of current developments in plant genetics
to select varieties of established oilcrops (rapeseed and sunflower)
which could produce oil of the quality required for industrial
applications; the second attempted to improve the agronomy of
three plant species (coriander, Euphorbia lagascae and Cuphea)
which have the capacity to produce oils containing high proportions
of unusual components such as petroselinic and vernolic acid,
as well as medium chain fatty acids. The plant genetic materials
developed in this project are being worked up by the private breeding
partners to establish cultivar status and enable profitable agronomic
production of the desired seed oils.
Contacts
EC Scientific Officer
Participant
Project Leader
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