Castor oil is considered to be a magical substance owing to the wide variety of products that are derived from it. The compound is of utmost importance in the oleo-chemical industry and the products derived from castor oil are comparable to petrochemical products as they can be used in many industrial processes in which traditionally petroleum products were used. The major advantage that castor oil products have over their petrochemical counterparts is that these products are biodegradable, non polluting and are formed from renewable sources. All these points clearly give castor oil products their much needed edge and hence the market of castor oil products has increased manifold in the past few decades.
India has emerged as a leading castor oil exporter and the castor oil products manufactured in India are known worldwide. The emergence of India as a castor oil exporter credits to a few companies which took the initiative of bringing in the castor oil products in the market. Their hard work and vision have given India the edge and made it one of the major exporters of castor oil products.
The uses of castor oil are varied and have their application in many fields. Some of the fields where castor oil products find their use is given below:
1. Textile Chemicals: In the field of textiles, castor oil is used to make wetting agents for pigments, surfactants and raw materials for the auxiliaries.
2. Agriculture: In the field of agriculture castor based organic manure and hybrid seeds are quite common.
3. Plastics and Rubber: Coupling agents, polyols, processing aids are some of the agents which are manufactured by the use of castor oil derivatives in the rubber and plastic industries,
4. Food: Food industries utilize castor oil and its derivatives for the formation of various products like conjugated fatty acids, castor oil esters and viscosity reducing additives.
5. Cosmetics and Perfumeries: Many of the compounds utilized in the perfume industry like heptyl alcohol, ethyl heptoate, heptaldehyde and so on are produced by castor oil derivatives and in the field of cosmetics, deodorants, castor oil, emulsifiers are some of the products which are produced by this agent.
6. Electronics: In the area of communication and electrical items, castor oil is used for making jelly for cable jelly, capacitor fluids, castor oil esters, polyurethane systems and many more products.
7. Pharmaceuticals: Glycerine, Zinc undecylenate, enanthic anhydride and many other form of castor oils are utilized.
8. Paints and adhesives: Glycerines, polyamides, alkyd resins are some of the compounds which are synthesized by using castor oil in the paint and adhesives industry.
9. Lubricants: Dimer acids, hepatonic acids, blown castor oil are some of the lubricants which are produced from castor oils.
It can be seen from the above list that there is a varied use of castor oil in almost every major industry related to chemicals. This is the reason why castor oil has sealed its place in the global market and there are many castor oil exporters spread across India.