Castor oil, Boiling Point : 150°C

Description

Castor is found widespread in the tropical regions and it is native to the south eastern Mediterranean region, East Africa and India. It is widely grown as an ornamental plant also apart from using its oil.

Ricinus communis grows widespread in tropical climate countries and is a native to the Mediterranean basis, East Africa and India. The plant is of invasive nature and can often be found on wasteland also. The plant is grown as a decorative plant also and it grows to height of 2 to 3 meters if the temperature is around 200C. It can grow in cooler climate like in south England and if it is a sheltered place there are no chances of it getting frost damage.

The plant was widely used in the parks of Toronto, Ontario, and other places of Canada during the Edwardian times. The plant grows wild in South California. The castor seeds is said to have been found in Egyptian tombs dating back to the 4000 BC. It was widely used for burning lamps as it was slow burning. The Greeks used it for lighting lamps, as body ointments and improving hair growth and texture. It is believed that Cleopatra used it to brighten the white of her eyes. Ancient Egyptian described Castrol oil as a laxative also. The use of the oil in India has been documented since 2000 BC in lamps and as local medicine as a laxative, purgative and cathartic in Unani, Ayurveda and other medical systems. The oil is said to have been used for treating arthritis and given to children as medicine for de-worming. It is widely used in China also for centuries.

Extraction Process:

Extraction of oil is done in a similar manner to that for most oil seeds. The first stage of extraction is pre-pressing using high pressure screw press called expeller. The extracted oil is then filtered and the material removed from the oil is fed back into the stream along with the fresh material. The castor cake contains 8-10% oil and this is crushed and solvent extraction is done with heptane’s to extract further oil.

Commonly Known Benefits:

It is widely used to induce labour from ancient times. The oil starts working as soon as it reached the bowels and many women use it to induce labour. The contraction usually starts 1-3 hours after taking the oral dose of the oil

Physico Chemical Properties: