Rape Oil

rape oil [′rāp ‚ȯil]

(materials)

A fatty, nondrying or semidrying, viscous, dark-brown to yellow oil with unpleasant taste and aroma, obtained from the seed of rape and turnip; soluble in ether, carbon disulfide, and chloroform; solidifies at -2 to -10°C; used to make lubricants and rubber substitutes, as an illuminant, and in steel heat treatment. Also known as colza oil; rape-seed oil.

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Rape Oil 

a fatty vegetable oil obtained from seeds of the plant Brassica napus var. oleifera, which is distributed in Western and Central Europe, China, India, Canada, and the USSR (Ukraine and Byelorussia). In composition and properties, rape oil is very similar to the oil obtained from the seeds of B. campestris. It is distinguished for its high erucic acid content of 47–50 percent. Its iodine number is 95–106, and its freezing temperature is - 10° to 0°C. World production in 1973 was 2,475,000 tons. Rape oil is used principally by the soap, textile, and leather industries; it is also used in the production of drying oils. After refining and hydrogenation, rape oil is used in the margarine industry.

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Rape Oil 

(also rapeseed oil), a fatty cinnamon-colored vegetable oil obtained from the seeds of Brassica campestris. Rape oil has a high content of erucic acid (38–50 percent). It also contains a number of other fatty acids: oleic acid (15–32 percent), linoleic acid (15–21 percent), linolenic acid (8–10 percent), palmitic acid (4.0–4.5 percent), eicosanoic acid (up to 4 percent), stearic acid (2 percent), arachidic acid (up to 1.8 percent), lignoceric acid (0.6–1.0 percent), hexadecenoic acid (0.6 percent), and behenic acid (0.5–0.6 percent). The freezing temperature is -8°C, and the iodine number is 105–122.

Rape oil is used mainly for industrial purposes, for example, in soap-making and the production of lubricants. In refined form the oil is used in food.

REFERENCES

See references under VEGETABLE OILS.