Seeds of the plant used to produce castor oil, in the Ecological Reserve of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Photo: Blmurch/CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.An Israeli company Casterra developed a genetically engineered castor bean formula that is ideal for the production of green fuel for vehicles. Castor oil, also called castor oil, was traditionally used as a medicinal product, but Casterra is beginning to exploit its potential to care for the environment.
Today castor oil is used for the production of biodiesel. Biodiesel is a mixture made from vegetable or animal oils with traditional diesel. Its objective is to reduce the amount of diesel consumption, and thus, produce a decrease in the carbon emissions generated by vehicles.
Eyal Ronen, executive director of Casterra, explains that the variety used in the company has increasingly efficient production. ”From each hectare that is cultivated, you can squeeze more yield and generate a greater income,” said Ronen. Its seeds have a content percentage of 50%, while other varieties barely reach 30%.
The company has been offering its genetically developed seeds to South America for years. But Casterra recently announced that it will send seeds for biodiesel production worth a total of $11.2 million to Africa.
