I. Commodity Profile:

Castor oil is taken from the seeds of castor (containing about 50% oil). After shelling the seed kernel oil content of up to nearly 70%, containing about 18% protein. Castor oil is the only commercial oils and fats containing mainly hydroxy acid. Castor's main place of origin for Brazil, India and the former Soviet Union, China's provinces are planted.

Castor oil contains a large number of ricinic acid (more than 80%), so there are many unique properties:

1. Easily dissolved in ethanol, difficult to dissolve in petroleum ether. The existence of this feature is easier to distinguish castor oil from other fats and oils.

2. Viscosity is much higher than the general grease, 25 when 680CPS, viscosity index of 84, the coefficient of friction is very low (0.1).

At the same time castor oil is insoluble in gasoline, low freezing point, high ignition point. The mobility of castor oil is good, refined castor oil can still flow at -22, -50 after rapid cooling without turbidity, is the ideal lubricant for aviation and high-speed machinery and power belt protection oil.

3. There is a strong spin, because its main fatty acid - ricinoleic acid in the asymmetric carbon atom in the 12 position after.

4. The dielectric constant is about 4.30, which is the highest among common fats and oils.

5. The relative density and acetyl value of castor oil is greater than that of common fats and oils.

6. Castor oil in the air almost does not occur oxidation rancidity, storage stability is good, is a typical non-drying liquid oil.

Castor oil physical and chemical constants:

Relative density (d20 ℃ 4 ℃) 0.9550-0.9700

Refractive index (n20 ℃ D) 1.4765-1.4819

Viscosity (E020 ℃) more than 14

Point of freezing (℃) 18

Combustion point (℃) 322 <

Iodine value (g iodine/100g oil) 82-86

Saponification value (mgKOH/g oil) 176-187

Thiocyanate value 81-82

Total fatty acid content (%) about 96

Average molecular weight of fatty acids 290-300

Fatty acid composition of castor oil (%):

Stearic acid 0.5-3.0

Dihydroxystearic acid 0.6-2.0

Oleic acid 3-9

Linoleic acid 2.0-3.5

Ricin 80-88

Castor oil is not edible. High economic value, it is a medicinal laxative; textile, chemical and light industry and other departments with castor oil as a dyeing agent, lubricant, plasticizing sentence, emulsification sentence and the manufacture of paints, lacquers, soaps and raw materials for ink.

Castor oil by concentrated sulfuric acid treatment to get a very good surface activity of sulfate (commonly known as Turkish red oil). Dehydration of castor oil can be obtained with **** yoke double bond of dry oils and fats. Castor oil can be processed under different hydrogenation conditions to obtain a variety of products, so castor oil is widely used in various industrial sectors. Castor oil is closest to the pure compound monoacid triglyceride, in the common fats and oils only olive oil (containing about 80% of oleic acid), safflower oil (more than 70% linoleic acid) and tung oil (about 85% tungstate) have this feature.

Castor oil unsaponifiables content is less than 1%. Vitamin content is low (around 0.05).

Castor seed oil content is high, due to the different uses of oil, so the method of oil extraction is also different, medicinal castor oil with a hydraulic press cold pressing, the temperature is not more than 50, otherwise part of the impurities will be dissolved in the oil and can not be used for medicinal purposes. The oil obtained by cold pressing is called No. 1 castor oil. The cake is crushed and then pressed again or leached to produce No. 3 castor oil (no No. 2) for industrial use. The castor oil obtained by direct pressing with screw press or pre-pressing - leaching can only be used as industrial oil.

Castor Seed

I. Commodity Profile:

Castor seed is an annual Euphorbiaceae, castor genus. Also known as hemp seed. Native to Egypt, Ethiopia and India, and later transplanted to Brazil, Thailand, Argentina, the United States and so on. China's cultivated castor is imported from India, about 1400 years of history. Castor seed is the largest producer of Brazil, followed by India, China and Thailand.

Castor in China's planting distribution is not clearly divided. South from Hainan Island, north from Heilongjiang are cultivated, to the Yellow River and Yangtze River basin is the most widely distributed.

Castor likes to grow in warm conditions, low temperatures in early spring is easy to freeze seedlings or adult plants, in the growing season, if the temperature is low, it will delay the flowering and maturity, and reduce the yield and the oil content of the seeds. Therefore, it is important to pay attention to the season when planting in the north.

Castor seed classification

Generally, according to the color of the stem can be divided into red stem type and green stem type; to the fruit on the thorns or not, can be divided into without thorns and thornless type; and according to the size of the seed can be divided into large-grained type and small-grained type.

The main components of castor seed

In general, the whole seed contains 6.8% water, kernel water content of 4.16%, shell water content of 9.5%, capacity of 544 kg / cubic meter, raw materials containing 0.75% miscellaneous.

The seeds can be divided into two parts: husk and seed kernel, which contains about 25-30% of the husk, the main components of the husk are cellulose, polyacetonitrile sugar, pigment, phytate and ash, seed kernel for the 70-75% of the weight of the seed, the main components of oil and protein, and some of the more active lipolytic enzymes within the seed.

The main chemical composition of castor beans (dry basis)

Composition content (%) Composition content (%)

Oil 48-50 carbohydrates 13

Protein 18 cellulose 12.5

Non-nitrogenous compounds 23 ash 2.5

Quality appraisal of castor bean seeds

Look at the appearance of the seeds, seed skin Oil black shiny, white seed kernel of good quality; seed coat dark, lusterless, yellow seed kernel or with spots, or even smell the quality of the oil rotten flavor of the second.

Grab a handful of kernels with your hand and hold them tightly, if there is no sound of the seed coat rupture, it means that the particles are neat, full of non-deflated grains, and more deflated grains will have a sound. With teeth high seed skin hard crunchy grains dry, soft water.

Second, storage:

Castor seed is better than other oilseeds storage, due to the castor fruit is easy to crack when ripe, the real skin naturally fall off, generally reach a safe moisture, conducive to storage.

Storage of castor seed is best scattered storage (such as in the bottom of the hoard or warehouse pads on linoleum, surrounded by up), scattered storage easy ventilation. Whether it is scattered or packaged storage, we must pay attention to moisture, shatterproof, because castor beans in the esterase, which can quickly promote the fat decomposition of castor beans into fatty acids. Decomposition rate is very fast, as long as the storage of a few hours, the decomposition rate can be multiplied. Especially in summer, the decomposition rate is faster. Therefore, the bottom of the stack should be padded with sleepers or linoleum to prevent moisture absorption and mold. The location of the stack should be selected in the ventilation. If there is moisture or moldy particles to string package 1 time per month, or move to the outdoor airing ventilation. But to avoid direct sunlight at high temperatures above 35 ℃ to prevent oil or rancidity.