Jatropha Curcas Biodiesel fuel

[newton]

Are any of our readers cultivating this plant or is there any knowledge of its commercial production in Pakistan. It is a poisonous, semi-evergreen shrub or small tree, reaching a height of 6 m (20ft). It is resistant to a high degree of aridity, allowing it to be grown in deserts.

I have learned that is being grown commercially in many parts of the world including India (extensively) and now also Pakistan.

By all accounts the plant can grow in wastelands and grows on almost any terrain, even on gravelly, sandy and saline soils. It can thrive in poor and stony soils. The seeds contain around 35% oil that can be processed to produce a high-quality biodiesel fuel, usable in a standard diesel engine or further refined as aviation jet fuel.

It starts yielding seeds from 9–12 months time, the best are obtained after only after 2 – 3 years . The annual harvest accounting for around 5tonnes per hectare producing between 5-700 litres of biodiesel. With ideal growing conditions 1700 litres has been achieved. There are around half a dozen world class commercial airlines that have successfully trialled Jatropha based biofuel in their aircraft engines. Indian railways use it on their trains and the waste product can be used as animal fodder amongst other things.

Thank you

Ifzal

[M Farooq]

Ifzal sb, Pakistan State Oil did a study on mass production of Jatropha Oil, but I could not find their published results or may be they did not publish it for proprietary reasons. However, a "general" case study is available on the internet without details.
http://www.psopk.com/products_services/ ... h_work.php

Biodiesel may be environmentally friendly, but the extraction process is expensive. In short,

Dard-e- sar ke waastay, sun-dal lagana hey mufeed
Sun-dal ko pees-na aur ghis-na, khud dard-e-sar hee to hey!