Field pennycress (Thlaspi arVense L.) oil is evaluated for the first time as a feedstock for biodiesel production. Biodiesel was obtained in 82 wt % yield by a standard transesterification procedure with methanol and sodium methoxide catalyst at 60 °C and an alcohol to oil molar ratio of 6:1. Acid-catalyzed pretreatment to reduce the acid value of crude field pennycress oil resulted in a yield after methanolysis of 94 wt %. Field pennycress oil had high contents of erucic (13(Z)-docosenoic; 32.8 wt %) and linoleic (9(Z),12(Z)-octadecadienoic; 22.4 wt %) acids with other unsaturated fatty acids comprising most of the remaining fatty acid profile. As a result, the methyl esters (biodiesel) obtained from this oil exhibited a high cetane number of 59.8 and excellent low temperature properties, as evidenced by cloud, pour, and cold filter plugging points of -10, -18, and -17 °C, respectively. The kinematic viscosity and oxidative stability (Rancimat method) of field pennycress oil methyl esters were 5.24 mm 2 /s (40 °C) and 4.4 h (110 °C), respectively. Other fuel properties such as acid value, lubricity, free and total glycerol content, surface tension, as well as sulfur and phosphorus contents were also determined and are discussed in light of biodiesel standards such as ASTM D6751 and EN 14214. Also reported for the first time are cetane numbers of methyl esters of erucic and gondoic (methyl 11(Z)-eicosenoate) acids, which were found to be 74.2 and 73.2, respectively. In summary, field pennycress oil appears to an acceptable feedstock for biodiesel production. † Disclaimer: Product names are necessary to report factually on available data; however, the USDA neither guarantees nor warrants the standard of the product, and the use of the name by USDA implies no approval of the product to the exclusion of others that may also be suitable.

Caneberries (Rubus spp. L.) are grown primarily throughout the Pacific Northwestern United States and Canada. Processing of caneberry fruit typically removes the seed, and the development of a value-added use of seeds could expand the market for caneberries and the profit margins for growers. An initial step toward the use of the seeds is a characterization of seed and oil. Our investigation has described compositional characteristics for seeds of five commonly grown caneberry species: red raspberry, black raspberry, boysenberry, Marion blackberry, and evergreen blackberry. Seeds from all five species had 6-7% protein and 11-18% oil. The oils contained 53-63% linoleic acid, 15-31% linolenic acid, and 3-8% saturated fatty acids. The two smaller seeded raspberry species had higher percentages of oil, the lowest amounts of saturated fatty acid, and the highest amounts of linolenic acid. Antioxidant capacities were detected both for whole seeds and for cold-pressed oils but did not correlate to total phenolics or tocopherols. Ellagitannins and free ellagic acid were the main phenolics detected in all five caneberry species and were approximately 3-fold more abundant in the blackberries and the boysenberry than in the raspberries.