High oleic castor as a new source of biodiesel 2G.

Biodiesel can be prepared through the transmethylation of vegetable oils with short chained alcohols. The most common oils used as the starting material are edible oils, such as those extracted from palm or rapeseed. However, there is interest in producing biodiesel independently of food stock. Common castor is a non-edible oil crop that yields oil rich seeds with a high hydroxylated fatty acid content but that are not particularly appropriate for biodiesel formulation. The OLE1 castor mutant produces oils rich in oleic acid, with minor amounts of hydroxylated ricinoleic. Here, this trait was transferred to the IAS-RC-127 germplasm, which was cultivated as a perennial plant that yields seeds rich in oil, which could easily be extracted and transmethylated in a reaction with methanolic KOH. The resulting methyl esters comply with most of the requirements to be used as biodiesel, comparable to biofuels prepared from other high oleic oils. • Oil from high oleic castor seeds can be extracted and refined by regular methods. • High oleic castor oil can be transmethylated to produce biodiesel rich in oleate. • Biodiesel from high oleic castor displayed low viscosity values. • High oleic castor biodiesel fits better than regular castor biodiesel norm. • High oleic castor biodiesel displayed a low temperature melting range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]