Israel-headed Casterra Ag Ltd (Casterra), an integrated castor cultivation solution company and a subsidiary of compatriot computational biology firm Evogene Ltd (Evogene) has announced US$2.2 million worth of additional purchase orders to supply castor seeds during 2023, for use in new African territories.
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According to Precedence Research, the biodiesel market is estimated at approximately US$92 billion in 2021, which is about 9 percent of the overall global diesel market, and is expected to reach US$190 billion by 2030.
In current industry practice, biodiesel is based on a mix of about 93-95 percent fossil oil and 5-7 percent non-fossil oil from plants or other sources. The demand for non-fossil oil for biodiesel could increase either by the growth of the biodiesel segment in the regular diesel market and/or by an increase in the percentage of non-fossil used in the biodiesel mix.
Castor bean is an ideal feedstock
Casterra is engaged in developing and commercializing high-yielding castor bean (Ricinus communis) seeds as a cost-competitive, sustainable, second-generation feedstock for the growing biofuel market.
It has built its castor genetic assets based on a broad collection of over 300 castor lines from over 40 different geographic and climatic regions.
According to Casterra, Castor oil emerges as a standout non-fossil oil candidate due to its carbon-neutral properties, with emissions during combustion closely matching the carbon dioxide (CO2) absorbed during the growth of castor plants.
Furthermore, the castor plant can be cultivated on marginal lands, in semi-arid to arid conditions, and it does not compete on the ground with edible crops.
Casterra, as Evogene’s subsidiary, spearheads the development of proprietary high-yield castor varieties leveraging the company’s cutting-edge computational biology technologies utilizing Evogene’s GeneRator AI tech engine and incorporating advanced computational AI capabilities and proprietary plant genomic databases.
We are thrilled to receive additional significant purchase orders for our unique castor seed, which confirms our value proposition for the sustainable biofuel industry. As we eagerly hope to secure more orders in the future, this accomplishment reinforces our ongoing commitment to delivering exceptional, eco-friendly solutions to meet the ever-growing global demand for renewable energy. After more than a decade of hard work and an investment of tens of millions of dollars in developing our unique varieties and underlying technology, we are proud that Casterra is now a trusted and reliable supplier in this growing market, commented Eyal Ronen, CEO of Casterra.
