A Kansas State
University biochemist is studying Camelina sativa — a nonfood oilseed crop —
to see how it can
be used for biofuel or even industrial and food-related applications.
Photo credit: Matt
Wisniewski, GLBRC | Photo copyright: Plant Biotechnology Journal
(August 13, 2015) A
Kansas State University biochemistry professor has reached a milestone in
building a better biofuel: producing high levels of lipids with modified
properties in oil seeds.
Timothy Durrett, assistant professor of biochemistry and
molecular biophysics in the College of Arts & Sciences, and collaborators
at Michigan State University and the University of Nebraska, Lincoln have
modified Camelina sativa — a nonfood oilseed crop — and produced the highest
levels of modified seed lipids to date. By modifying the oilseed biochemistry
in camelina, the researchers have achieved very high levels of an oil with
reduced viscosity and improved cold temperature characteristics.
The goal of the research is to alter oilseeds to produce
large amounts of modified oil that can be used as improved biofuels or even
industrial and food-related applications. The research recently appeared in the
journal Industrial Crops and Products and on the front cover of the Plant
Biotechnology Journal.
"Reducing our dependence on fossil fuel-derived carbon
is always good," Durrett said. "Using alternative sources of fuel is
the obvious way to reduce our dependence. But even other applications, such as
using it for lubricants or as feedstocks for the chemical industry, would help
reduce our dependence on fossil-derived carbon."
Camelina can grow on poorer quality farmland, needs little
irrigation or fertilizer, and produces seeds that can provide gallons of oil,
Durrett said. It also can be rotated with wheat and could become a biofuel crop
for semi-arid regions, including western Kansas and Colorado.