Castor oil: From premium crop to biofuel feedstock

The current oil crisis is accelerating the urgency to address a long-recognised energy challenge of providing reliable biofuel alternatives at scale. The Strait of Hormuz conflict has caused Brent crude prices to surge—with a staggering 65% jump in March 2026 and prices peaking at nearly $128 (€112) a barrel in April and markets remain volatile today. Biofuels need another source of feedstock and quickly. The geopolitical situation is not creating the problem; it is exposing a feedstock landscape that was already under strain. Used cooking oil, palm oil, soybean oil, and rapeseed oil have been the main sources for sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) and renewable diesel production, but competition for those resources has intensified considerably as production capacity expands globally. Each carries its own limitations: finite waste streams, food crop competition, land-use constraints and in the case of palm and soy, regulatory exclusion from EU biofuel mandates. The sector needs non-food feedstocks that can be produced at scale, in geographically distributed locations and outside the supply chains the recent conflict has exposed as vulnerable. Castor oil has long been...