Colza oil

Colza oil or colza is a non-drying oil obtained from the seeds of rapeseed (Brassica napus subsp. napus.[1] syn. Brassica campestris subsp. napus (L.) Hook.f. & T. Anderson).[2] Colza is extensively cultivated in France, Belgium, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands, Germany, Denmark (especially on the island of Bornholm), and Poland. In France and Denmark, especially, the extraction of the oil is an important industry. In commerce, colza is a traditional rapeseed oil (with turnip rape oil, sarson oil, toria oil (Brassica rapa ssp.), and ravison oil),[3] to which they are very closely allied in both source and properties. It is a comparatively nonodoriferous oil of a yellow colour, having a specific gravity varying between 0.912 and 0.920. The cake left after extraction of the oil is a valuable feed ingredient for pigs.

Colza cultivation in Germany

Uses

Colza oil is extensively used as a lubricant for machinery. It was widely used in European domestic lighting before the advent of coal (city) gas or kerosene. It was the preferred oil for train pot lamps, and was used for lighting railway coaches in the United Kingdom before gas lighting, and later electric lighting, were adopted. Burned in a Carcel lamp, it was part of the definition of the French standard measure for illumination, the carcel, for most of the nineteenth century. In lighthouses, for example in early Canada, colza oil was used before the introduction of mineral oil. The colza oil was used with the Argand burner because it was cheaper than whale oil.[4] Colza was burned to a limited extent in the Confederacy during the American Civil War.[5]

Colza oil was used in Gombault's Caustic Balsam,[6] a popular horse and human liniment at the turn of the 20th century.

Among the more unusual applications of colza oil is the calming of choppy seas, where the oil modifies the surface tension of the water and rapidly smooths the surface. For this purpose, colza oil was carried in ship's lifeboats.[7]

More recently, colza has been cultivated in Europe as an ingredient for biodiesel fuels, and is the primary source of biodiesel in Germany.

Colza oil is also used as a food oil. Bornholm, Denmark is the only place to produce rapeseed oil from the seed's germ.

See also

References
 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Colza Oil". Encyclopædia Britannica. 6 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 748.
  1. Vegetable substances: materials of manufactures, Society for the Diffusion of Useful Knowledge, 1833, p. 204-205
  2. Ref. GRIN
  3. Jan Velíšek, "colza" The Chemistry of Food, Wiley, 2014, p. 102
  4. "USQUE AD MARE - Early Lights - Canadian Coast Guard". Ccg-gcc.gc.ca. 2008-03-31. Retrieved 2010-03-14.
  5. Mallett, John W. "How the South got chemicals during the war". Southern Historical Society Papers. 31: 101.
  6. "Gombaults". Racehorseherbal.com. Archived from the original on 2010-11-28. Retrieved 2010-03-14. Note that the ingredients listed in this link are similar to, but not the same as, the list on the actual bottle.
  7. "Oil Tested in Storms at Sea". The New York Times. New York Times. 1893-03-04. Retrieved 2010-03-14.
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