According to the color of castor stem, it can be divided into red stem castor and green stem castor. According to textual research, castor bean was introduced earlier. Castor has certain industrial value, medicinal value and agricultural value.
However, it seems inaccurate to say that castor is the "king of hundreds of plants". Many plants have been named "the king of herbs", and there are certain human factors. As the saying goes, different people have different opinions.
From the perspective of modern use, the greatest value or advantage of castor lies in its industrial value, which is also the main reason for the sharp increase in demand for castor.
Castor seed has high oil content, the highest proportion is over 50%, about 57%, and the main component is triglyceride. Because castor oil has the characteristics of high viscosity coefficient and low freezing point, that is, frost resistance and high temperature resistance, it will not freeze at MINUS 8~ 10 degrees. The ignition point is also high, and it will not burn and deteriorate even at a high temperature of 600 degrees, which is incomparable to other oils.
The friction coefficient of castor oil is also very low. Because of this characteristic, castor oil becomes a natural high-grade lubricating oil. Especially refined castor oil is an indispensable ideal protective oil for related machinery and equipment in the field of aviation cold weather.
For example, the lubricating oil made of petroleum will be thickened due to degradation after driving for 5,000 kilometers, so it is necessary to change the oil at this time. And if you use castor oil, you don't need to change the oil even if you drive 80 thousand kilometers. Isn't it amazing?
In addition, castor oil can also be used as a cold-resistant plasticizer.
Generally speaking, ordinary plastics are easy to become brittle and aging at low temperature. If plasticizer is added, hard plastic will become soft and tough.
Plasticizers on the market are mainly phthalate esters, which have a certain impact on human metabolism. Plasticizer extracted from castor oil is safer.
Castor oil can also be used as aviation fuel. The team of Nankai University in China used castor oil as raw material to realize hydrogenation of castor oil through catalytic reaction, and successfully produced bio-aviation kerosene.
Sebacic acid extracted from castor oil is also the raw material of high-quality engineering plastics nylon -9 and nylon-1 1. Sebacic acid mainly comes from the cracking of castor oil. At present, almost all the sebacic acid industrially produced in the world is produced by castor oil. This shows the industrial status of castor oil.
In a word, castor oil, as a natural and environmentally friendly oil, has high economic value. However, at present, the planting amount of castor oil in China is still limited, and castor oil mainly depends on imports, which greatly limits the development of castor oil industry. With the rise of green chemical industry, the proportion of castor oil will be higher and higher.