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Crambe abyssinica, a comprehensive programme - Workshop - Part 1 - Introduction and Economics |
Surpluses in agriculture and pollution linked to the petroleum industry urge farmers and industrialists to look for new uses for "old" plants or directly for "new" plants such as Crambe. Crambe is a brassica producing an oil rich in erucic acid (EA). Its interest and limits can be outlined by comparison with rape which is the main "old" oil brassica already grown in the EU, and which is also a potential source of EA.
Economy
Since 1993, the Blair House Agreements has organised
agriculture production in the EU. Edible oil plants (mainly sunflower and rape)
receive a bonus /ha but the total acreage allowed is 4,933 millions ha, and this
maximum may well be reached in 1997.
For industrial crops, including
Crambe, the maximum tonnage allowed is the equivalent of 1 million soybean meal,
which still leaves room for manoeuvre. However, the bonus /ha is only around 70%
of that given for edible crops.
Agronomy
Rape is grown on a very large area of about 2.7
millions hectares in the EU. Thus, its pests and diseases, which are present
everywhere, can also attack Crambe crops since both plants belong to the same
family. This large acreage of rape is sown with double 0 cultivars (without EA
and without glucosinolates -GLs-). Thus the possibility of growing the EA
cultivars is limited since EA and double 0 types are fully interfertile. In
contrast, Crambe can be cultivated on the same areas as any cultivar of rape
since they are not cross pollinated.
Industrial uses
The profitability of the crop will depend of
industrial utilisation of each component of the seed. The hull (20-25% of the
dry weight), which is harvested with the seed, is rich in a cellulose and its
suitability for paper production has already been demonstrated. The seed
contains 25-30 % proteins, and 30-35 % oil with about 55 % of erucic acid, 10 -
15% oleic and 5-10% linoleic acid. The seed can be easily processed by
conventional methods of crushing and solvent extraction, yielding oil and meal.
Nevertheless, the seed also contains a relative large amount GLs, of which
epi-progoitrin predominates (> 90%). During flaking, GLs come into contact
with an enzyme (the myrosinase) which catalyses their hydrolysis. The hydrolytic
degradation products, which remain in the meal, are undesirable antinutritional
and, in some cases, toxic compounds.
Crambe protein meal is rich in
thio-aminoacids and studies are carried on to characterise their chemical and
nutritional properties in order to find the most convenient industrial outlets.
However, the most current outlet seems to be for use as animal feed and thus the
GLs breakdown compounds must be eliminated or notably reduced. In future, as was
the case for rape, GLs will be reduced from the seed by breeding. Currently, it
is possible and easy to dilute Crambe meal with other vegetable protein meals in
order to lower the GLs breakdown compounds content to the same level as in rape
meal. Another route consists of special treatments at various steps of the
processing. The catalytic method, which has recently been set up, acts on the
meal, at the end of processing. It seems to be quite efficient and the first
tons of detoxified meal are now marketed. The aqueous enzymatic extraction
method is another possibility. In this procedure, the myrosinase is inactivated
in the first step of the processing. Separation of the components of the seed
(oil, proteins and GLs) come later. With this technique, proteins are free from
GLs and, consequently, they can be used for animal feeding without limitation.
With this procedure, the epi-progoitrin can also be isolated in native and pure
form. It could then be used as starting molecules for preparing fine chemicals
with high added value or for alternative biocides in pharmacy or plant
protection. However, at present, oil is the main marketable product. It is
always free from GLs since they are not soluble in lipids. The oil is no longer
used for human nutrition due to its high level of EA, but however, a derivative,
the GTE-GTO (Lorenzo oil) is used in pharmacy as a therapeutic treatment for
patients suffering from ALD (adrenoleukodystrophy). In lipochemistry, EA is a
well known source of compounds for erucamides, soaps, detergents, cosmetics,
plastics...
The physical properties of EA and of crude oil have also been
compared to mineral oils, confirming the superior quality and suitability of
Crambe oil for lubrication and quenching (high viscosity index, high flash
point, low pouring point, high stability to themmo oxidation). These properties,
together with the great advantage of being definitively biodegradable give it a
great potential in the EU market, which would exceed 1.2 million tons/year for
lubrication alone.
Conclusion
Crambe is one of the most promising "new"
plants. The research work still to do on breeding and chemistry is immense and
requires support. Furthermore, as a "new" plant it will have to
challenge "old" plants which have been improved and supported for
decades and petrol products with their powerful lobby. However its strength
comes from the will to preserve biodiversity and to limit pollution, i.e. the
will to preserve the future.
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN COMMERCIALISATION OF CRAMBE
Dr. Marc Lankveld, Cebeco Handelsgroep Akker-en tuinbouw B.V
Crambe is of interest to the oleochemical industry for its high erucic acid content of the oil. Crambe oil is competition with HEAR (high-erucic acid rape), which is currently the most used source for high erucic acid. Since the early nineties there have been activities on Crambe in North America on a scale of approx. 10,000 ha. This is steadily growing. In Europe (EC Countries) the development of Crambe is still in an early stag partly due to the fact that Crambe is, at this moment, not attractive to the farmer. Because of the competition between Crambe and Hear, the links in the production chain have to be optimised in order to produce the erucic acid at the lowest cost. However, this means also that every link the chain has to benefit from its activity in the production chain. This is still a major problem. The production chain of Crambe (and also Hear) can be represented as follows:
Seed material (Seed suppliers) - Cultivation (Farmers) - Collection (a.o.Coops) - Oil recovery (Crushers) - Meal (Feed Industry) and oil (Oleochemical Industry) - Feed components (Farmers) and Additives (a.o. Polymer Industry).
The current production chain in Europe for Crambe is only attractive to the
links in the chain if Crambe can be grown on set-aside areas. The uncertainty
around the EC policy on this aspect is hampering the Crambe development in EC
countries. The supply of Crambe oil can be secured in other regions of the world
Another aspect is the novelty of the crop:
development of Crambe has 'just'
started. Farmers are getting more acquainted and seed material with higher seed-
and oil yield is being developed. The processing of seed and application of the
oil and meal products is known. If today's bottlenecks can be overcome, in time
Crambe could also develop in Europe from a small scale chain (few hundred
hectares/tones oil in 1996) tc respectable agro-chemical chain.
CRAMBE, AN INDUSTRIAL OILSEED CROP OF POTENTIAL INTEREST FOR EUROPEAN
AGRICULTURE
Francoise Labalette, ONIDOL
Market size, agronomic and technological performances and CAP (common agricultural policy) regulations schemes are discussed in this paper intended making a survey of the Crambe abyssinica possibilities in Europe. Because of the high erucic acid (HEA) content of the oil (C22 :1: 55-60 %), Crambe must be considered as an industrial oilseed crop (35 % of oil) in Europe. Largest current oleochemical applications for such HEA oil are in polymer additives (Erucamide) and detergents. The consumption of HEA oil in Europe is expected to rise by 4-5 % a year, from 40 000 t a year now to 55 000 t in 2005. In addition to available HEA rapeseed, Crambe could so contribute to meet this extending demand without imports. Moreover, environmental and technological concerns are leading to emerging new markets in Europe. For instance, thanks to useful physico-chemical characteristics (high lubricity and smoke point, good wettability..), Crambe oil could enter, as vegetal biodegradable base instead of mineral oil, into lubricants (EU market of 230 Kt/year out of motor engine products), especially in hydraulic fluids (100 Kt) and metal working (32 Kt) formulations. In addition, the development of Crambe, as a speciality oilseed for targeted markets, complies with the current CAP framework and with a durable development of the European agriculture: Crambe production don't require additional equipment and the basic growing methods are none. Good yields have been recorded in the Netherlands, in Germany and in Italy and significant progresses at both genetic and agronomic levels are expected in the next future. Crambe is not included in the oilseed crops Blair House Agreement (June 1993) which limits the supported European production of rapeseed, sunflower and soybean and can be so cultivated on set- aside without restriction. Crambe could well be used to improve the crop rotation management in the most suitable areas without any cross pollination with edible rapeseed. All in all, it would be worth going on the research and development efforts on Crambe in order to achieve an available expertise of the Crambe feasibility in Europe and to prepare the future. As a matter of fact, well organised and market oriented agro-industrial chains, able to supply durably the industry with environmental-friendly components, could comply with the framework of the next CAP, but only if reliable regulation schemes for such non-food crops are agreed in 1999.
© Copyright 2006 Policy Statements
Updated
by CPL Press:
03/07/2007
- biomatnet@biomatnet.org
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