Award details

Reducing the carbon footprint of the lubricants industry by the substitution of mineral oil with rapeseed

Reference	BBS/E/J/000CA333
Principal Investigator / Supervisor	Professor Ian Bancroft
Co-Investigators / Co-Supervisors
Institution	John Innes Centre
Department	John Innes Centre Department
Funding type	Research
Value (£)	178,905
Status	Completed
Type	Institute Project
Start date	01/04/2008
End date	31/03/2014
Duration	72 months

Abstract

The purpose of the project is to underpin the development of oilseed rape varieties for the production of oil for use in the lubricants industry. Excessive content of polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) in rapeseed oil produced from high-yielding winter varieties severely limits its use in all but the least stressed applications. A key knowledge gap is an understanding of how to substantially reduce oil PUFA content without reducing the oil yield of the crop. We will address this knowledge gap and enable establishment of a closed supply chain. This involves: (a) The genetic improvement of oilseed rape by mutagenesis of specific genes (orthologues of the Arabidopsis thaliana genes FAD2 and RFC4) in order to produce, from a high-yielding winter crop, oil very low in PUFAs. (b) Assessment of the physical properties of the oil produced in order to validate its utility, including an analysis of the impact of selective hydrogenation. (c) Provision of characterised oilseed rape lines to the breeding industry for the development of cultivars. (d) Catalysing assembly of a supply chain. The strategy is non-GM, so we anticipate no barriers to the widespread utilization of the resultant varieties in the UK.

Summary

unavailable

Committee	Not funded via Committee
Research Topics	Bioenergy, Crop Science, Industrial Biotechnology, Plant Science
Research Priority	X – Research Priority information not available
Research Initiative	X - not in an Initiative
Funding Scheme	X – not Funded via a specific Funding Scheme

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