Advantages Of Jatropha Curcas :

Oil yield per hectare is among the highest of tree borne oil seeds. It can be grown in areas of low rainfall (500 mm per year) and in problem soils. In high rainfall and irrigated areas too it can be grown with much higher yields. Therefore, it can be grown in most parts of the country. It can be grown in desert areas, with the help of drip irrigation. Jatropha is easy to establish, grows relatively quickly and is hardy. Jatropha lends itself to plantation with advantage on lands developed on watershed basis and on low fertility marginal, degraded, fallow, waste and other lands such as along the canals, roads railway tracks, on borders of farmers’ fields as a boundary fence or live hedge in the arid / semi-arid areas and even on alkaline soils. As such it can be used to reclaim waste lands in the forests and outside. Jatropha seeds are easy to collect as they are ready to be plucked after the rainy season and as the plants are not very tall. Jatropha is not browsed by animals. Being rich in nitrogen, the seed cake is an excellent source of plant nutrients. Seed production ranges from about 0.4 tons per hectare in first year to over 5 tons per hectare after 3 years. The plant starts giving seed in a maximum period of two years after planting. Raising plants in nurseries, planting and maintaining them and collection of seed are labour intensive activities. Except for the cost of fertiliser and transportation of the plants from the nursery, all the activities in the nurseries and in plantation consist of labour. Various parts of the plant are of medicinal value, its bark contains tannin, the flowers attract bees and thus the plant has honey production potential. Like all trees, Jatropha removes carbon from the atmosphere, stores it in the woody tissues and assists in the build up of soil carbon. It is thus environment friendly. Jatropha can be established from seeds, 3 months old seedlings and vegetatively from cuttings. Use of branch cutting for propagation is easy and results in rapid growth. The plant is undemanding in soil type and does not require tillage.

Biodiesel Processing

Processing of Biodiesel consists of the following steps : Plantation of Jatropha curcas Collection of Oil bearing seeds Processing of seeds to produce oil and seed cake. Processing of cake to get Bio Gas and Bio Fertilizer Manufacture of biodiesel

Jatropha curcas : The origin of Biodiesel

Jatropha curcas is a small tree or shrub with smooth gray bark, which exudes a whitish colored, watery, latex when cut. Normally, it grows between three and five meters in height, but can attain a height of up to eight or ten meters under favourable conditions. It is the best of all types of Jatropha plants for biodiesel extraction. Leaves : It has large green to pale-green leaves, alternate to sub-opposite, three-to five-lobed with a spiral phyllotaxis. Flowers : The petiole length ranges between 6-23 mm. The inflorescence is formed in the leaf axil. Flowers are formed terminally, individually, with female flowers usually slightly larger and occurs in the hot seasons. In conditions where continuous growth occurs, an unbalance of pistillate or staminate flower production results in a higher number of female flowers. More number of female flowers are grown by the plant if bee keeping is done alongwith. More female flowers give more number of seeds. Fruits : Fruits are produced in winter when the shrub is leafless, or it may produce several crops during the year if soil moisture is good and temperatures are sufficiently high. Each inflorescence yields a bunch of approximately 10 or more ovoid fruits. A three, bi-valved cocci is formed after the seeds mature and the fleshy exocarp dries.

What is Biodiesel?

Biodiesel is obtained by transesterification of vegetable oil or animal fat which reacts with methanol, in presence of a catalyst, to give the methyl esters of the Fatty Acid mixtures found in these fats. CATALYST VEGETABLE OIL + ALCOHOL ----------------->BIODIESEL + GLYCEROL