menuCastor Oil
Castor oil is the oil derived from castor beans.
Castor oil is one of hard oils, where the oil content in the seed is relatively high. In the case of castor seed, the oil content is close to 50% of the total by weight - the castor bean contains 50-55% oil. The oil itself contains a number of fatty acids similar to those in cooking oils, such as oleic acid, linoleic acid, stearic acid and palmitic acid. However, among vegetable oils, castor oil is distinguished by its high content (over 85%) of ricinoleic acid. No other vegetable oil contains so high a proportion of fatty hydroxyacids. Castor oils unsaturated bond, high molecular weight (298), low melting point (5ºC) and very low solidification point (-12ºC to -18ºC) make it industrially useful, most of all for the highest and most stable viscosity of any vegetable oil
Castor oil is unique among all fats and oils. It has an unusual chemical composition of a triglyceride of fatty acids. It is the only source of an 18-carbon hydroxylated fatty acid with one double bond. The product uniformity and consistency of castor oil are significantly high for a naturally occurring material.
The chemical composition of castor oil is:
- Ricinoleic Acid – 89.5%
- Linoleic Acid – 4.2%
- Oleic Acid – 3%
- Stearic Acic – 1%
- Palmitic Acid – 1%
- Dihydroxystearic Acid – 0.7%
- Linolenic Acid – 0.3%
- Eicosanoic Acid – 0.3%
More info on Castor Oil from CastorOil.in – The Home of Castor Oil on the Internet