Camelina: Potential biofuels crop in western Nebraska

North Platte Bulletin
by IANR News Service - 9/22/2010

Camelina just might fill a niche in the western part of the state as an oilseed crop that is suited for bio-based oil applications.

Camelina is a yellow-flowering oilseed crop that grows one to three feet tall. It has some advantages as an industrial oil crop, said University of Nebraska-Lincoln scientist Ed Cahoon. For example, it's not widely used for food, so there's little risk of mixing food and non-food traits. It also requires little irrigation.

"It's well suited for western Nebraska," Cahoon said.

Cahoon, a lipid biochemist and molecular biologist, and his colleague Tom Clemente recently received a $500,000, three-year grant from the U.S. Department of Agriculture to research the crop's potential for development of industrial lubricants.

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