Oilseed Brassicas - Bioenergy Crop Plants - page 470

meal). Tree crops such as palm, coconut and olive would comprise the second category where oil is
produced regularly from the seeds of slow-growing but long-lived plants. Rapeseed/canola, along
with other oilseed crops (sunflower, peanut, sesame, castor, linseed, tobacco, etc.), falls into the
third and the largest category of annual crop plants producing oil.
In terms of the annual production of vegetable oils throughout the world, rapeseed oil ranks
among the four major oils with annual oil productions of approximately 30, 25, 13, and 8 million MT
per year for soybean, palm, rapeseed and sunflower, respectively (www.oilworld.biz; annual 2002).
The minor vegetable oils, with annual production ranging from 0.4 to 5.3 MT per year, include
(in descending order) groundnut, cotton seed, coconut, olive, corn, sesame, linseed and castor.
There are many other vegetable oils which may not rank high in terms of global oil production but
may have production potential and/or possess unique chemical properties. These include oils from
avocado, brazil nut, Camelina , coffee, hemp, Lesquerella , safflower, rice bran, opium poppy, jojoba,
jatropha, and macadamia nut.
Rapeseed also ranks high (among the top eleven) when compared to other vegetable oils in
terms of oil yield per unit of area. Table 18.1 (derived from www.journeytoforever.org) presents a
comparison of the vegetable oils with highest oil yield capacities per hectare, and is presented in
descending order.
The amount of extractable oil also varies widely among the major oil crops and rapeseed is
placed near the top (sixth) with a capacity to produce 37 kg of oil from 100 kg of rapeseed (www.
journeytoforever.org). This capacity is higher than soybean, sunflower, palm and cotton which can
produce 13-36 kg of oil from 100kg of seeds, and lower than the 42-60 kg oil/100 kg of seed for
castor, coconut, sesame, and peanut.
Rapeseed and other vegetable oil crops are given the title of “bioenergy crops” mainly due to the
use of the seed oil from these crops for the production of biodiesel. Although capacity to produce
seed oil is an important consideration when comparing the merits of crops for biodiesel production,

taBle 18.1
conservative estimates of the crop oil yields, Which can vary Widely

oil yield
(l/ha)

oil yield
(l/ha)

rank oil crop rank oil crop

1 Oil palm 5950 19 Camelina 583

2 Coconut 2689 20 Mustard seed 572

3 Avocado 2638 21 Coriander 536

4 Macadamia nut 2246 22 Pumpkin seed 534

5 Jatropha 1892 23 Euphorbia 524

6 Jojoba 1818 24 Hazelnut 482

7 Pecan nut 1791 25 Flax 478

8 Castor bean 1413 26 Coffee 459

9 Olive 1212 27 Soybean 446

10 Rapeseed 1190 28 Hemp 363

11 Opium poppy 1163 29 Cotton 325

12 Peanut 1059 30 Calendula 305

13 Cocoa 1026 31 Kenaf 273

14 Sunflower 952 32 Lupine 232

15 Tung oil 940 33 Oats 217

16 Rice 828 34 Cashew 176

17 Safflower 779 35 Corn 172

18 Sesame 696

Source: Data from Addison, K., Straight vegetable oil as diesel fuel. 2001. http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_svo.html.