Ancient European Plant Is a Potential Biodiesel Feedstock

A plant known to have flourished in Europe some 3,500 years ago has been identified as a potential bioenergy crop for biodiesel production.  Camelina sativa, also known as “false flax ”,“ German sesame and “gold of pleasure”, is said to have a long history of use in Europe, mainly for the production of lamp oil, dating back to the Neolithic times.  Its cultivation declined in the medieval period due to unknown reasons, and only recently it has been grown in limited amounts for its use in organic health products.  However, there has been a renewed interest in the plant as a biofuel crop, which might trigger its mass cultivation.  The properties that make Camelina a potentially competitive biodiesel feedstock are its (1) ability to grow in arid conditions; (2) low agricultural input requirements (fertilizer, pesticides, etc); and (3) an oil content (20% to 40%) comparable to that of other well known oilseeds such as canola and soybean.  Targeted Growth, a biotechnology firm in Seattle, Washington, United States has initiated a “hyper-accelerated breeding program” with the purpose of increasing Camelina yields.  The program is based on technology developed from previous studies on the growth of cancer cells that has been adapted for the growth of plant cells. The target of the program is to produce enough seeds for planting one million acres of Camelina by 2009.

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More information about agronomic and oil properties of Camelina
http://www.biomatnet.org/secure/Crops/S592.htm