Proceso de Semilla de Camelina

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Camelina Crop Production

Camelina (Camelina sativa L. Crantz) was first cultivated in Northern Europe and Central Asia during the Bronze Age. Native from Finland east to Russia’s Ural Mountains, the crop was originally grown thousands of years ago to produce oil for food, lamps, and medicines. Commonly known as “false flax” or “gold-of-pleasure,” camelina still grows wild across Europe today.

A member of the Brassicaceae (or mustard) family, camelina is related to cabbage, cauliflower, broccoli, and its fellow oilseed, canola. Although widely grown in Europe and the Soviet Union until the 1940s, camelina production dwindled after World War II, thanks to farm subsidy programs that favored higher-yielding commodity crops like rapeseed.

However, camelina has regained popularity over the last couple of decades as farmers and processors have rediscovered the advantages of this crop—both in terms of its relatively easy cultivation and its wide diversity of end-use applications. Extensive growing trials have been conducted across North America to explore the growing potential of this beneficial oilseed.

Cultivation

In North America, camelina has been successfully cultivated in the Pacific Northwest and northern Rocky Mountain regions, including Montana, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington, and Alberta, Canada. Currently, most commercial production is in Montana. Outside of North America, camelina is also cultivated in its native turf in countries like Slovenia, Ukraine, China, Finland, Germany, and Austria. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations does not yet track international camelina production volume.

As a cool-season crop, camelina is typically grown as a spring-planted summer annual, although it can also be planted in the fall and grown as a winter crop in milder climates. Cold-hardy and frost-tolerant, camelina seeds can germinate in soil.

temperatures as low as 34 degrees Fahrenheit. It can be planted earlier than most crops, ideally during the month of March. As with many cool-season crops, earlier planting dates increase yields and higher oil content. Studies in Montana and Idaho indicate a 25% reduction in yield when delaying planting from mid-March to mid-April.

Minimal seedbed preparation is needed before planting camelina, which is typically seeded via surface broadcasting or shallow drilling. In Europe, camelina is traditionally sown at a rate of 6 to 8 pounds of seeds per acre. However, recent trials in Montana indicate an ideal seeding rate of 3 to 5 pounds of seed per acre.

Growing conditions

Recognized as relatively easy to grow, camelina requires fewer agricultural inputs than many other crops. It’s highly resistant to diseases, such as blackleg, that plague other Brassica crops like canola. Likewise, many insects that typically target canola— such as flea beetles, aphids, and cabbage seed pod weevils—don’t bother camelina. It also competes with weeds; in fact, European research indicates that camelina produces chemical compounds that suppress weed growth around it.

As a drought-tolerant crop requiring minimal rainfall (as little as 11 inches), camelina is better suited to dryland regions than most oilseeds—although yields increase with more precipitation. Trials in Montana have reported yields up to 2,000 pounds per acre in dryland regions that receive between 16-18 inches of rainfall, while trials in Idaho have yielded up to 2,200 pounds per acre in areas with 20-24 inches of rain. Under irrigation, yields of up to 2,400 pounds per acre have been reported.

Seed production and composition

A short season crop that reaches maturity in just 85-100 days, camelina is widely used in rotations with other crops like soybean, maize, peas, wheat, sunflower, and millet. Camelina plants grow between 2 to 3 feet tall at maturity, with arrow- shaped leaves and clusters of pale yellow flowers. The plants produce small pea-sized, pear-shaped seed pods resembling flax bolls that contain about a dozen seeds each. Camelina seeds are extremely tiny, measuring less than 1/16 of an inch in length and averaging between 220,000 to 500,000 seeds per pound.

Camelina seeds contain 30-40% oil by weight, about 30% protein, and around 20% glucose. However, like other members of the mustard family, camelina oil contains erucic acid—although low erucic acid varieties have been identified and others are being developed. Also, as with other Brassica crops, camelina meal contains glucosinolates, which can be harmful to animals when consumed in large quantities.

Harvesting

Camelina should be harvested when about two-thirds of the pods have turned from green to yellow to brown. The crop matures quickly once this color change begins. Unlike other members of the Brassica family, camelina pods hold their seeds tightly and don’t pop open easily, so shattering during harvest typically isn’t an issue.

Camelina can be swathed or direct combined, although combines should be modified appropriately. Combine settings used for canola work well, although fan speeds should be reduced to minimize the losses of these tiny seeds. Small combine screens designed for alfalfa can help separate seeds from hulls and stems, but further cleaning may also be required before pressing to remove other debris.

At the time of harvest, camelina seeds should contain less than 10% moisture. The seeds are encased in a thin, gummy layer of mucilage that easily absorbs moisture. While this is beneficial for  germination, it can be detrimental to seed storage, so seeds should be stored at 8% moisture or less.

Camelina Processing

Camelina can be difficult to process simply due to the extremely small size of the seeds. Tackling this tiny seed requires proper pretreating before pressing.

Preparation

First, camelina seeds need to be cleaned of foreign debris like weed seeds, chaff, and other materials that might have made it through the combine sieve. These materials dilute protein and fat content, waste energy, and increase the rate of wear on the processing equipment. Due to the small size of the camelina, there is no need for size reduction allowing the material to be sent directly to the cooking and drying steps after cleaning. As with any oilseed, cooking breaks down the oil containing bodies within the oilseed for easier oil recovery, destroys any antinutritional factors, improves protein digestibility, and hardens the material for more efficient pressing. Drying reduces the moisture content of the material down to 3-5% at 110°C-120°C (230-250°F), the ideal condition for the most effective oil recovery in oilseeds. Excessive temperatures can degrade the oil’s nutritional properties and increase phosphorus levels, which could be harmful to engines if the oil is used for biodiesel.

Mechanical pressing

Given the small- to mid-scale production volume typical of camelina, a screw press is the most common extraction method. At lower capacities, mechanical systems are more cost-effective when compared to solvent extraction, which is more often used in the large-scale production of oilseed commodities like canola.

A screw press like the Anderson Super Duo™ Series Expeller® uses mechanical pressure to crush the seeds, separating the oil from the rest of the solid material, or meal. The Super Duo’s unique dual-press design releases maximum oil in a single pass, with a capacity to process up to 30 tons per day. The oil is drained through the screw press barrel and collected, while the remaining meal is extruded from the machine as a press cake. Traditional mechanical presses typically recover about 75% or more of the oil from the seed material.

Pre-press extrusion

To increase the throughput and efficiency of the Expeller press, processors can add a high-shear dry extrusion step upstream. Traditional oilseed preparation involves multiple energy-draining steam jacketed cooking vessels. But a machine like the Anderson Dox™ Extruder uses mechanical energy to shear, cook, and dry the seeds without external heat or steam in a single step and a fraction of the time.

Seeds are conveyed through the extruder by a rotating screw, similar to an expeller. The mechanical force creates a high-pressure, high-shear environment that breaks down the cellular structure of the seeds, releasing the oil inside.

Meanwhile, the high pressure and temperature inside the extruder destroy harmful substances, cook the material, and flash-dry excess moisture without degrading the protein quality of the seeds.

Extruded material can then be fed into the expeller for improved oil recovery. When a high-shear extruder like the Dox is installed upstream, the Anderson Expeller can reduce oil residuals to less than 6% in most materials and double the press’s capacity. By minimizing the equipment footprint needed to process camelina oil, extrusion increases efficiency and reduces energy costs for small-scale processors.

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Saludos Héctor