The Jatropha plant is a wide ranging perennial with a quick growth and almost 60 years longevity. It appears to survive both tropical and arid conditions, at a range of altitudes and even survive frosts, and it produces a valuable crop, its seeds. It first came to many commercial grower’s attention when the oil could be substituted for diesel or for detergent production during the Second World War. This history has not been lost on growers looking for alternatives to palm oil production but in less clement conditions (Openshaw, 2000; Achten et al., 2008). Whilst the plant might help in land reclamation schemes, the seed oil has no nutrititive properties because of the presence of toxic phorbol esters (Foldi et al., 1996).
Cultivation
The plant is widely grown, like Buah Perah throughout the tropical Far East (Thailand to Malaysia) but could be adequately grown in more arid regions. That certainly makes it a more attractive proposition for those countries aiming to maximise land use.
An extensive study mainly on the country-specific differences in Jatropha seed oil content has shown it to be up to 64.2% w/w which was stated to be higher than other more common seeds such as linseed, soya and palm oil (44%) (Emil et al., 2010). It could serve as a valuable alternative to palm oil because it would allow edible seedcrops to be grown for their nutritional value rather than as biodiesel.
References
Achten, W.M.J., Verchot, L., Franken, Y.J., Mathijs, E. (2008) Jatropha biodiesel production and use. Biomass Bioener. 32 pp. 1063–1084
Emil, A., Yaakob, Z., Satheesh Kumar, M.N., Jahim, J.M., Salimon, J. (2010) Comparative Evaluation of Physicochemical Properties of Jatropha Seed Oil from Malaysia, Indonesia and Thailand. J. Am. Oil Chem. Soc. 87 pp. 689–695
Foldi, N., Goidl, G., Sanchez, M., Mittlebach, M. (1996) Jatropha curcas L.: as a source for the production of biofuel in Nicaragua. Bioresource Tech. 58 p,p. 77–82
Openshaw, K. (2000) A review of Jatropha curcas: an oil plant of unfulfilled promise. Biomass Bioenergy 19 pp. 1–15
I’ve been investigating Jatropha seeds as a source of oil for a number of years- especially in food use but I hadn’t seen any articles covering its use as diesel. Do you think this will catch on ?