Castor Oil Plant

[seabear]

Brought some seeds of the Castor oil plant from Laos. ละหุ่ง Lakhung?

Growing nicely. Now I have more seeds.

What can I do with them?

If they are sellable I could plant more.

Could make oil. What equipment would I need?

[turnpike]

i know absolutely nothing about this plant or have any answer to your question, but i snipped this piece from wikipedia, just so's you're aware....

The toxicity of raw castor beans due to the presence of ricin is well-known. Although the lethal dose in adults is considered to be 4 to 8 seeds, reports of actual poisoning are relatively rare. According to the 2007 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, this plant is the most poisonous in the world.

Poisoning occurs when animals ingest broken seeds or break the seed by chewing: intact seeds may pass through the digestive tract without releasing the toxin. Toxicity varies among animal species: 4 seeds will kill a rabbit, 5 a sheep, 6 an ox or horse, 7 a pig, 11 a dog, but it takes 80 to kill a duck. The toxin provides the castor oil plant with some degree of natural protection from insect pests, such as aphids. In fact, ricin has been investigated for its potential use as an insecticide. It is also the source for undecylenic acid, a natural fungicide.

[WatersEdge]

Oil extraction is most efficient by Hexane solvent,

which anyone who has smelled rubber cement knows.

Hexane use and purchase in Thailand requires a hazardous chemical permit.

Any oil containing seed or plant fiber can be processed.

Other common solvents work in the same way,

Petroleum Ether

Ethanol

Methanol would be much slower to absorb the oil, but would work eventually

Hexane is preferred because it has

very aggressive solution rate

low boiling point 70C

and low heat of vaporization 70 cal/gram,

minimizing the solution time and heat energy necessary to distill the solvent off the oil.

The process equipment is six sealed tanks,

connected in series with the solvent counterflowing against the seed cake.

Clean solvent is passed through the tank with the least oil content,

then progressing through the tanks with increasing oil content,

until the final tank has fresh seed cake with all the oil content,

while in the final tank the solvent is heaviest in dissolved oil content.

The mixture of solvent & oil then is heated to boil off the solvent,

while the oil does not boil at that temperature.

The solvent vapor then is chilled to condense back to liquid,

and comes around for another run.

If there are no vapor leaks, the solvent is used an unlimited number of times.

If there are vapor leaks, there is a fire hazard.

When the seed cake is extracted six cycles,

it is heated to drive off all the solvent,

making it completely solvent free and almost perfectly oil free.

If the six tanks in series is more plumbing and valves than you want to mess with,

you can still get all of the oil out by soaking in a greater volume of solvent for a longer time.

but the greater the number of tanks the more complete the extraction with less solvent flow.

and therefore less heat energy used to distill.

Since the operating temperature is so low, only 70C for Hexane,

and similarly low for the other solvents,

the heat energy could logically be drawn from the waste heat flow of another process.

Expensive boiler fuel is not necessary...cheapest field or forest boiler fuel available.

Mechanical extraction is also used,

but a significant percentage is still left in the seedcake.

whereas solvent extraction leaves very very little behind.

This is a heavy auger screw, forcing the oil cake into a barrel of decreasing diameter.

Near the small end of the barrel, the oil leaks out tiny slits, while the seed cake exits out the far end.

If you have unlimited budget for fancy weld fabrication and gas compressor,

then the Supercritical Carbon Dioxide extraction process is just beautiful,

but it operates at over 2,000 psi, that's not a typo, three zeros.

136 bar.

Over 5 times the pressure rating of an LPG Propane tank.

The liquid CO2 passes through the seedcake,

and when both are separated to another tank,

the liquid CO2 is expanded to gas, leaves the oil mixture, and is compressed back to liquid for another pass.

One significant feature of this process is that there is no possible residual solvent in the dry seedcake.

and the operating temperature is near room temperature.

Carbon Dioxide is commonly available, cheap and safe.

[seabear]

i know absolutely nothing about this plant or have any answer to your question, but i snipped this piece from wikipedia, just so's you're aware....

The toxicity of raw castor beans due to the presence of ricin is well-known. Although the lethal dose in adults is considered to be 4 to 8 seeds, reports of actual poisoning are relatively rare. According to the 2007 edition of the Guinness Book of World Records, this plant is the most poisonous in the world.

Poisoning occurs when animals ingest broken seeds or break the seed by chewing: intact seeds may pass through the digestive tract without releasing the toxin. Toxicity varies among animal species: 4 seeds will kill a rabbit, 5 a sheep, 6 an ox or horse, 7 a pig, 11 a dog, but it takes 80 to kill a duck. The toxin provides the castor oil plant with some degree of natural protection from insect pests, such as aphids. In fact, ricin has been investigated for its potential use as an insecticide. It is also the source for undecylenic acid, a natural fungicide.

Thanks turnpike. I red that also. And many other websites.

[seabear]

Oil extraction is most efficient by Hexane solvent,

which anyone who has smelled rubber cement knows.

Hexane use and purchase in Thailand requires a hazardous chemical permit.

Any oil containing seed or plant fiber can be processed.

Other common solvents work in the same way,

Petroleum Ether

Ethanol

Methanol would be much slower to absorb the oil, but would work eventually

Hexane is preferred because it has

very aggressive solution rate

low boiling point 70C

and low heat of vaporization 70 cal/gram,

minimizing the solution time and heat energy necessary to distill the solvent off the oil.

The process equipment is six sealed tanks,

connected in series with the solvent counterflowing against the seed cake.

Clean solvent is passed through the tank with the least oil content,

then progressing through the tanks with increasing oil content,

until the final tank has fresh seed cake with all the oil content,

while in the final tank the solvent is heaviest in dissolved oil content.

The mixture of solvent & oil then is heated to boil off the solvent,

while the oil does not boil at that temperature.

The solvent vapor then is chilled to condense back to liquid,

and comes around for another run.

If there are no vapor leaks, the solvent is used an unlimited number of times.

If there are vapor leaks, there is a fire hazard.

When the seed cake is extracted six cycles,

it is heated to drive off all the solvent,

making it completely solvent free and almost perfectly oil free.

If the six tanks in series is more plumbing and valves than you want to mess with,

you can still get all of the oil out by soaking in a greater volume of solvent for a longer time.

but the greater the number of tanks the more complete the extraction with less solvent flow.

and therefore less heat energy used to distill.

Since the operating temperature is so low, only 70C for Hexane,

and similarly low for the other solvents,

the heat energy could logically be drawn from the waste heat flow of another process.

Expensive boiler fuel is not necessary...cheapest field or forest boiler fuel available.

Mechanical extraction is also used,

but a significant percentage is still left in the seedcake.

whereas solvent extraction leaves very very little behind.

This is a heavy auger screw, forcing the oil cake into a barrel of decreasing diameter.

Near the small end of the barrel, the oil leaks out tiny slits, while the seed cake exits out the far end.

If you have unlimited budget for fancy weld fabrication and gas compressor,

then the Supercritical Carbon Dioxide extraction process is just beautiful,

but it operates at over 2,000 psi, that's not a typo, three zeros.

136 bar.

Over 5 times the pressure rating of an LPG Propane tank.

The liquid CO2 passes through the seedcake,

and when both are separated to another tank,

the liquid CO2 is expanded to gas, leaves the oil mixture, and is compressed back to liquid for another pass.

One significant feature of this process is that there is no possible residual solvent in the dry seedcake.

and the operating temperature is near room temperature.

Carbon Dioxide is commonly available, cheap and safe.

Thank you WE.

I guess I don't start a new hobby then .

[euca]

Oil extraction is most efficient by Hexane solvent,

which ... is near room temperature.

Carbon Dioxide is commonly available, cheap and safe.

To: WatersEdge

Fm: Euca

Text: Such a satisfying read; thankyou. May I PM you for more on that subject? Best read on the forum for some time.

respectfully,

Euca.

[TPI]

Oil extraction is most efficient by Hexane solvent,

which ... is near room temperature.

Carbon Dioxide is commonly available, cheap and safe.

To: WatersEdge

Fm: Euca

Text: Such a satisfying read; thankyou. May I PM you for more on that subject? Best read on the forum for some time.

respectfully,

Euca.

I'll echo that sentiment, dam_n fine reply!

[WatersEdge]

No need to request permission to PM.

Appreciate the kind words.

[Pond Life]

Just a word of caution.

Castor plants are very invasive.

I you let the seeds develop & fall, you will never be rid of them.

The seeds can lie dormant in the soil for many years.

I have a piece of land that floods occaisionaly.

I patrol it every couple of month & pull out all the new Castor seedling.

I've been doing this for about 3 years.

They still keep coming back.

Also flooding brings new seeds.