A new plant based oil is being developed to replace petrochemicals in industrial products ranging from fuels and lubricants to specialty chemicals and plastics, writes Hartley Henderson.

In a joint project between the CSIRO and the Grains Research Development Corporation (GRDC) to establish the Crop Biofactories Initiatives (CBI), Safflower seed oil that contains over 92 percent oleic acid has been produced. This has been dubbed ‘Super High Oleic Safflower Oil’ (SHOSO).

According to the CSIRO’s Dr Craig Wood, plants can produce a wide range of compounds that can be used as raw materials for making industrial chemicals and these crop biofactories have potential to sustainably supply the volume and price required for industrial products.

“SHO Safflower, from which SHOSO is produced, has performed well in field trials. The oil produced in the seed has significantly higher stability than conventional oils and performs as well or better than synthetic oils derived from fossil reserves. These properties will see SHOSO attain a higher market value than normal crop oils, which should be reflected in a higher farm-gate value for growers,” he said.

“The stability of the oleic acid makes it especially suitable for high temperature industrial applications such as lubricants and transformer fluids, and it can also be processed to build a range of complex polymers for use in bioplastics and surface coatings.

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