Colza cultivation in Germany

Colza oil is a nondrying oil obtained from the seeds of Brassica rapa, var. oleifera, a variety of the plant that produces turnips. Colza is extensively cultivated in France, Belgium, the United States, the Netherlands and Germany and Poland. In France, especially, the extraction of the oil is an important industry. In commerce, colza is classed with rapeseed oil, to which it is 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.

Uses[link]

Colza oil is extensively used as a lubricant for machinery.

Colza oil was used extensively 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^[1] than whale oil.

Colza oil was used in Gombault's Caustic Balsam,^[2] a popular horse and human liniment at the turn of the 20th century. (Note that the ingredients listed in this link are similar to, but not the same as, the list on the actual bottle).

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. Rescue and recovery operations have been made far less risky in this way.^[3]

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

Colza as an illuminate in the American South[link]

The employment of petroleum oil as an illuminant was at its beginning. Colza and other oils were similarly used at that time, but these soon disappeared, and the old-time candle dip prevailed. Source: Southern Historical Society Papers vol.31 p.101, "How the South got Chemicals during the War."

See also[link]

• Toxic Oil Syndrome

References[link]

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). Encyclopædia Britannica (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. 

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An oil is any substance that is liquid at ambient temperatures and does not mix with water but may mix with other oils and organic solvents. This general definition includes vegetable oils, volatile essential oils, petrochemical oils, and synthetic oils.

Etymology[link]

First attested in English 1176, the word oil comes from Old French "oile", from Latin "oleum",^[1] which in turn comes from the Greek "ἔλαιον" (elaion), "olive oil, oil"^[2] and that from "ἐλαία" (elaia), "olive tree".^[3] The earliest attested form of the word is the Mycenaean Greek e-ra-wo, written in Linear B syllabic script.^[4]

Types[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

Organic oils[link]

Organic oils are produced in remarkable diversity by plants, animals, and other organisms through natural metabolic processes. Lipid is the scientific term for the fatty acids, steroids and similar chemicals often found in the oils produced by living things, while oil refers to an overall mixture of chemicals. Organic oils may also contain chemicals other than lipids, including proteins, waxes and alkaloids.

Lipids can be classified by the way that they are made by an organism, their chemical structure and their limited solubility in water compared to oils. They have a high carbon and hydrogen content and are considerably lacking in oxygen compared to other organic compounds and minerals; they tend to be relatively nonpolar molecules, but may include both polar and nonpolar regions as in the case of phospholipids and steroids.^[5]

Mineral oils[link]

Crude oil, or petroleum, and its refined components, collectively termed petrochemicals, are crucial resources in the modern economy. Crude oil originates from ancient fossilized organic materials, such as zooplankton and algae, which geochemical processes convert into oil.^[6] It is classified as a mineral oil because it does not have an organic origin on human timescales, but is instead obtained from rocks, underground traps, or sands. Mineral oil also refers to several specific distillates of crude oil.

Applications[link]

This unreferenced section requires citations to ensure verifiability.

A bottle of olive oil used in food

Cosmetics[link]

Oils are applied to hair to give it a lustrous look, to prevent tangles and roughness and to stabilize the hair to promote growth.^{[citation needed]} See Hair conditioner.

Religion[link]

Oils are commonly used in ritual anointments. As a particular example, holy anointing oil has been an important ritual liquid for Judaism and Christianity.

Painting[link]

Color pigments are easily suspended in oil, making it suitable as a supporting medium for paints. The oldest known extant oil paintings date from 650 AD.^[7]

Heat transfer[link]

Oils are used as coolants in oil cooling, for instance in electric transformers. Oils are also used to enhance heating in other applications, such as cooking (especially in frying).

Lubrication[link]

Oils are commonly used as lubricants. Mineral oils are more commonly used as machine lubricants than biological oils are.

Fuel[link]

Some oils burn in liquid or aerosol form, generating heat which can be used directly or converted into other forms of energy such as electricity or mechanical work. To obtain many fuel oils, crude oil is pumped from the ground and is shipped via oil tanker to an oil refinery. There, it is converted from crude oil to diesel fuel (petrodiesel), ethane (and other short-chain alkanes), fuel oils (heaviest of commercial fuels, used in ships/furnaces), gasoline (petrol), jet fuel, kerosene, benzene (historically), and liquefied petroleum gas. A 42 gallon barrel (U.S.) of crude oil produces approximately 10 gallons of diesel, 4 gallons of jet fuel, 19 gallons of gasoline, 7 gallons of other products, 3 gallons split between heavy fuel oil and liquified petroleum gases,^[8] and 2 gallons of heating oil. The total production of a barrel of crude into various products results in an increase to 45 gallons.^[8] Not all oils used as fuels are mineral oils, see biodiesel and vegetable oil fuel.

Chemical feedstock[link]

Crude oil can be refined into a wide variety of component hydrocarbons. Petrochemicals are the refined components of crude oil and the chemical products made from them. They are used as detergents, fertilizers, medicines, paints, plastics, synthetic fibers, and synthetic rubber. Organic oils are another important chemical feedstock, especially in green chemistry.

See also[link]

• Cooking oil
• Emulsifier, a chemical which allows oil and water to mix
• Lubrication
• Wax, a class of compounds with oil-like properties that are solid at common temperatures

References[link]

This article includes a list of references, but its sources remain unclear because it has insufficient inline citations. Please help to improve this article by introducing more precise citations. (October 2009)

External links[link]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Oil

• Petroleum Online e-Learning resource from IHRDC