ABSTRACT
The crude oil extracted from the seed must be further refined to remove suspended solids, color, odor or free fatty acids. Because the polymer industry is heavily dependent on nonrenewable petroleum-based feedstocks, there may be value in exploring alternatives such as domestic US renewable resources of fatty acids from seed oils. The oil in a seed can be extracted from the seed by hydraulic presses, expellers, or by solvent extraction. In 1980, US production of fatty acids via hydrolysis of seed oil triglycerides was over one billion pounds. The demand for high-erucic rapeseed oil for industrial applications along with the dependence upon foreign suppliers who may be supplanting high-erucic rapeseed with low-erucic rapeseed has resulted in research being undertaken to find alternative high-erucic acid crops. An annual oilseed crop related to the rapeseed and mustard family, has been considered in detail as a new oilseed crop by the Northern Regional Research Center.
