Abundance and Sources

A wide range of oil-bearing crops grown for food uses are also exploited for nonfood uses, but it is difficult to estimate how much is diverted to such uses. Table 2.1 illustrates the scales of world production for the most abundant and commonly traded oil crops that also have well-developed industrial uses. 

The tropical oil crops, coconut and palm, are the most efficient oil-producing crops, with coconut plantations yielding up to 2 tonnes per hectare of oil and the best performing palm plantations from 5-6 tonnes per hectare. By comparison, oil yields of temperate oil crops are typically of the order of 1-2 tonnes per hectare for the best oil-yielding crops (oilseed rape and sunflower). Clearly, Table 2.1 represents only a small fraction of oil-bearing plant species. Many other seed, fruit and nut oils are extracted for food use, however unless they contain fatty acid profiles or fatty acid derivatives of specific industrial interest, total oil-yield, fatty acid yield and cost of the final oil product tends to limit their use in industrial applications on all but a small or localised scale. 

Oil plant Area harvested (million hectares) Seed production (million tonnes) Typical oil content (%) 

---