The Canadian government and Saskatchewan Province is set to invest $4.5m in research to develop oil seed crops.
The three year programme, to be run by not-for-profit organisation Genome Prairie, will research the structure and breeding of Camelina microcarpa (also known as false flax) and Brassica carinata (Ethiopian Mustard) crops. The bulk of the funding ($3.5m) will come from provincial funds, with the remainder coming from the Federal Government.
The plants are potential bio-replacements for some types of petroleum-based lubes and greases, hydraulic fluids and polymers. The project, named "Prairie Gold", will be run in conjunction with a number of public and private companies.
The benefits of these particular crops is their ability to grow on 'marginal' or 'brown soil' land', rather than requiring rich soil usually allocated to food crops. This would allow food crop specialists, some of whom are involved in the new research, to add further products to their portfolio while keeping the production streams separate.
Camelina has also received positive reports in its use as jet fuel. Camelina-based biojet fuel, was peer reviewed by Michigan Tech University and showed a reduction in carbon-dioxide emissions of 75% against traditional jet fuel. The camelina crops were grown by Montana-based Sustainable Oils Inc. and processed into biojet fuel by Honeywell subsidiary, UOP.