Compositional evaluation of hot-pressed rapeseed cake for the purpose of bioplastic production

Abstract

Rapeseed is widely cultivated for biodiesel or food-grade oil production. As the oil production process generates huge amounts of wastes and by-products (e.g. oil press cake and meal) that have relatively high crude protein content, valorisation as input material for proteinbased bioplastics has a lot of potential. There is a limited number of studies undertaken on using rapeseed cake directly (without prior protein extraction) for biomaterial production, but the initial results have been very promising. As rape and turnip rapeseeds are also some of the most harvested crops in Estonia, the rapeseed oil press cake as a by-product is also available from local food-grade rapeseed oil production. In this regard, we investigated locally available rapeseed oil press cake for chemical composition and explored suitability for bioplastic production. The results indicate suitability for direct biomaterial production, meaning properties for biomaterial formation could be further explored.