Published in Scientific Bulletin. Series F. Biotechnologies, Vol. XXI
Written by Alina-Loredana POPA, Ștefana JURCOANE, Brândușa DUMITRIU

Camelina sativa is an oil seeded plant belonging to the Brassicaceae family. It can be cultivated both in winter and spring season, having a remarkable capacity to adapt and resist to difficult climate conditions. Moreover, Camelina crop has shown resistance to pests and diseases which affect other crops from the same family. The synthesis of phytoalexins seems to be responsible for the unusual camelina defense system. Camelina oil is the main product resulted by extraction from seeds. The most common extraction methods are: mechanical extraction, solvent extraction and enzymatic extraction. Recently it has been considered also the supercritical-CO2 extraction. The oil obtained contains an unsaponifiable fraction represented by tocopherols, sterols and a saponifiable fraction consisting in fatty acids. The fatty acids profile is mainly represented by unsaturated fatty acids- mono and mostly polyunsaturated (>55%) and saturated fatty acids (9.1-10.8%). The most frequent fatty acids from camelina oil are linolenic, linoleic, oleic and eicosenoic. In comparison with other Brassicaceae plants, camelina oil has a low content of erucic acid. Camelina oil, due to its composition, has multiple uses in various industries: feed technology for substitution or supplementation of other oils (fish, broilers) in animal diets, biodiesel production, jet fuel production, biopolymer industry (peel adhesion properties, paints, varnishes), cosmetic industry (skin-conditioning agent), in food products due to its high omega-3 fatty acid content and low erucic acid content and as milk fat substitution.

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