Castor chemical development increases

Companies are intensifying efforts to improve castor oil production and processing. Some major projects have focused on developing higher-performance chemicals for applications such as base oil for lubricants, functional fluids and process oils, and others. The Dow Chemical Co.โ€™s Indian unit, Dow Chemical International Pvt. Ltd., is collaborating with India-based Royal Castor Products Ltd. to investigate new castor oil-based products, with emphasis on the availability of appropriate technology and commercial viability of operations. Dow was seen to be working to catch up with the BASF Group, which revived a castor oil-based engineering polymer in its plastics portfolio in 2007. Other major players in the castor oil derivates industry are France’s Arkema Group, which has a portfolio that includes the 100% castor oil-based products and DuPont, with its sebacic acid-based Zytel long-chain polyamides. (April 6, 2009)