Plant oil provides flower power for county

URUMQI－Modern workshops stand neatly in rows, while outside lies a small experimental field divided into more than a dozen different zones. Various varieties of safflower, a thistle-like plant, are grown here, as several workers weed the fields, observe the growth of the seedlings and make records.

The workshops of Xinjiang Tianding Safflower Oil company are located in Yumin county in Northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur autonomous region.

The nutritional value of safflower seeds remains relatively unknown to the public. The oil extracted from them has proved to be high in linoleic acid and vitamins. Linoleic acid is capable of reducing blood lipids, softening blood vessels, and stabilizing blood pressure.

"Referencing the olive oil process, we developed the cold pressing and cold smelting production process of safflower seed oil to better preserve its natural and nutritional value," says Wang Laizhong, general manager of the company.

In 2012, Wang set up a team to start the patent research and development for the cold pressing and cold smelting process of the seed oil. In the beginning, three team members took safflower seed samples to major scientific research institutions across the country to consult experts and learn about the cold pressing and cold refining process.

After returning to Yumin county, they converted a Chinese medicine extraction into a facility to start conducting experiments.

The team worked to lower the pressing temperature of safflower seed oil to below 60 C, which is ideal for minimizing the harmful substance benzopyrene.

In 2013, the team invested 80 million yuan ($12 million) to build a factory in Yumin, and the safflower seed oil production line went into operation. In 2016, they received two national invention patents related to the refining and cold pressing methods of seed oil production.

The oil processed by cold pressing and cold smelting is entirely edible.

Wang's team believes the middle and high-end edible oil market has big potential.

"We hope to make quality health products, slowly influence consumers' views on eating edible oil and realize the value of safflower seed oil," Wang says.

Last year, the turnover of the company was 30 million yuan, compared to 4 million yuan four years ago, and Wang expects the turnover to exceed 100 million yuan this year.

Innovation plays a significant role in their business. Wang says that the company invests about 2 million yuan into research and development every year.

Now, the company employs more than 40 people, mostly local residents, including a man named Ahat and his wife, who have been working in the company for nine years. They have bid farewell to poverty. The couple earn a total 7,500 yuan per month, and the company also provides them with accommodation.

The fields are the material "workshops". The company pays more than the market value for materials, in a bid to help local farmers and herdsmen to increase their income.

A safflower science and technology industrial park is under construction nearby. It is expected to receive the first batch of enterprises next summer. In the future, the park will include the whole industrial chain of safflower processing and develop tourism to bring more opportunities to locals.

Xinhua