User:Samuel Cia/sandbox

Agricultural use
The Crambe is cultivated for a wide range of industrial purposes. The interest lies mainly in the high erucic acid content (55-60%) of its seed oil and makes the crop a competitive option to other oil plants as industrial rapeseed. The composition of crambe oil gives this product several special traits, such as high smoke point, good wettability of different materials and high viscosity. In addition, Crambe oil has a higher biodegradability than mineral oils (Floris and Pignatelli, 1991). Therefore erucic acid derived compounds are used as additives in the plastic industry, high temperature hydraulic fluids, waxes, base for paints and coatings, lubricants and many other products. Furthermore, the extracted seed oil is used in pharmaceutical products and cosmetics.

The Crambe meal, which is a side product of industrial oil production, can be used as a protein supplement for animal feed. It contains approximately 46% proteins, which are of high nutritional quality. Unfortunately, the Crambe seed shred contains toxic compounds as glucosinolates, tannins and inositol phosphate. The use as forage is therefore very limited. The incorporation rate of Cambe by-products should not be higher than 5 percent for growing-finishing pigs and maximum 15% in concentrates for dairy cows.

A possible new utilization for crambe are biofuels. The oil composition is suitable for its processing into biofuels.