Jatropha a Practical Alternative Renewable Resource

Constantly the biodiesel industry is searching for some option to produce renewable resource. Biodiesel prepared from canola, sunflower and jatropha can replace or be integrated with standard diesel. During very first half of 2000’s jatropha biofuel made the headlines as an extremely popular and appealing alternative. It is prepared from jatropha curcas, a plant types belonging to Central America that can be grown on wasteland.

Jatropha Curcas is a non edible plant that grows in the dry areas. The plant grows really rapidly and it can yield seeds for about 50 years. The oil received from its seeds can be utilized as a biofuel. This can be mixed with petroleum diesel. Previously it has been utilized two times with algae mix to sustain test flight of business airline companies.

Another favorable technique of jatorpha seeds is that they have 37% oil content and they can be burned as a fuel without refining them. It is also used for medical function. Supporters of jatropha biodiesel say that the flames of jatropha oil are smoke totally free and they are effectively tested for basic diesel engines.

Jatropha biodiesel as Renewable Energy Investment has drawn in the interest of many companies, which have actually evaluated it for vehicle use. has been road tested by Mercedes and three of the cars and trucks have actually covered 18,600 miles by utilizing the jatropha plant biodiesel.

Since it is because of some drawbacks, the jatropha biodiesel have actually ruled out as a wonderful renewable resource. The most significant problem is that no one knows that exactly what the performance rate of the plant is. Secondly they do not understand how large scale cultivation may affect the soil quality and the environment as a whole. The jatropha plant needs 5 times more water per energy than corn and sugarcane. This raises another concern. On the other hand it is to be noted that jatropha can grow on tropical climates with annual rainfall of about 1000 to 1500 mm. A thing to be noted is that jatropha needs proper irrigation in the first year of its plantation which lasts for decades.

Recent survey states that it is true that jatropha can grow on degraded land with little water and poor nutrition. But there is no proof for the yield to be high. This might be proportional to the quality of the soil. In such a case it may require high quality of land and might need the exact same quagmire that is faced by many biofuel types.

Jatropha has one main drawback. The seeds and leaves of jatropha are harmful to human beings and livestock. This made the Australian federal government to prohibit the plant in 2006. The federal government stated the plant as invasive species, and too dangerous for western Australian agriculture and the environment here (DAFWQ 2006).

While jatropha has stimulating budding, there are number of research challenges stay. The importance of cleansing needs to be studied since of the toxicity of the plant. Along side a systematic research study of the oil yield have to be undertaken, this is extremely crucial since of high yield of jatropha would most likely required before jatropha can be contributed substantially to the world. Lastly it is also extremely important to study about the jatropha types that can survive in more temperature level environment, as jatropha is extremely much restricted in the tropical climates.