2. Resources for the bioeconomy
This book provides an overview of the diverse raw material base of the bioeconomy.
Oil-containing plants
Chemistry of oils and fats
Chemically speaking, oils and fats are esters of glycerol and three fatty acid units (triglyceride). They consist of 8 and 24 carbon atoms, hydrogen and oxygen.
Oils and fats have the same general chemical structure, but oils are liquid under standard conditions (25 °C) and fats are solid. Oils are often of vegetable origin and fats of animal origin.
Oils and fats are mixtures of substances and do not have an exact melting point, but a melting range. They are insoluble in water.
They are referred to as saturated fatty acids if the carbon atoms are connected via single bonds.
Palmic acid by Anne Rödl (CC 0)
Oleic acid by Anne Rödl (CC 0)
Oils and fats serve as energy sources or energy stores in plants, but also as solvents for fat-soluble vitamins. Plants often store oil in seeds and sometimes in the fruit flesh. It can be extracted from there.
Cultivation
The global area under oilseed crops in 2021 was around 338 million hectares, with a harvest volume of 1.2 billion tons.
Soybeans are not only a source of protein, but also a very important source of oil. Soy was grown on almost 130 million hectares worldwide in 2021 (FAOSTAT 2022), producing 373 million tons of soy.
The largest soybean-growing countries are Brazil, the USA and Argentina. Together, they produce over 80% of the world's soy.
Cultivation of oil-containing plants by Anne Rödl (CC BY)
As the oil plants differ greatly in their yields per hectare, a slightly different distribution emerges when looking at the quantities produced. Oil palms have a much higher specific yield than other oil plants and therefore account for the majority of the global harvest. Oil palms were cultivated on almost 29 million hectares worldwide, producing 416 million tons of oil fruits. The most important producing countries, together accounting for 87% of the global production volume, are Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand (FAO 2022). Cotton seeds are mainly grown in China, India and the USA.
An even more detailed portrait of the most important oil plants and oil production can be found in chapter 1.2 of the Future Fuels learning offer on the HOOU platform.