Friday, March 12, 2010
JATROPHA-BIODIESEL GREEN OIL
Botanical Features : It 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.
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 along with. 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.
Seeds : The seeds become mature when the capsule changes from green to yellow, after two to four months from fertilization. The blackish, thin shelled seeds are oblong and resemble small castor seeds.
Production of Seeds and oil : From the experience in India and elsewhere, a plant density of 1,100 per hectare (spacing of 3 X 3 meters) has been found to be optimal, although in rain fed areas on poor soils a lower plant density of 1,666 has been felt to be more desirable. In such plantations Jatropha gives about 2 kgs of seed per tree. In relatively poor desert soils, such as in Kutch (Gujrat) the yields have been reported to be 1 kg per plant. The seed production in plantations varies between 2.5 tons / hectare and 5 tons / hectare, depending upon whether the soils are poor or average. (Some people claim that you can get 12 tons per hectare. This is not possible as 2 meters tall jatropha plant can not bear more than 1 kg of seeds per season initially. This level of production may be possible from a 10 year old jatropha plant.)
If planted in hedges, the reported productivity of Jatropha is from 0.8 kg. to 1.0 kg. of seed per meter of live fence. Assuming a square plot, a fence around it will have a length of 400 sq. meters and a production of 0.4 MT of seed. A hedge along one hectare will be equal to 0.1 hectare of block plantation. The seed production is around 3.5 tons / hectare / annum.
Oil content varies from 28% to 30% and 94% extraction, one hectare of plantation will give 1.6 MT of oil if the soil is average, 0.75 MT if the soil is lateritic, and 1.0 MT if the soil is of the type found in Kutch (Gujarat). One hectare of plantation on average soil will on an average give 1.6 Metric Tons of oil. Plantation per hectare on poorer soils will give 0.9 MT of oil.
It can meet a number of objectives such as meeting domestic needs of energy including cooking and lighting, as an additional source of household income and employment, bio fertilizer, medicines, and industrial raw material for soap, cosmetics, etc. In creating environmental benefits, protection of crops or pasture lands, or as a hedge for erosion control, or as a windbreak and a source of organic manure.
Ecological Requirements : Jatropha curcas / Castor grows almost anywhere – even on gravelly, sandy and saline soils. It can thrive on the poorest stony soil. It can grow even in the crevices of rocks. The leaves shed during the winter months form mulch around the base of the plant. The organic matter from shed leaves enhance earth-worm activity in the soil around the root-zone of the plants, which improves the fertility of the soil. Climatically, Jatropha curcas / Castor is found in the tropics and subtropics and likes heat, although it does well even in lower temperatures and can withstand a light frost. Its water requirement is extremely low (1 liter per plant per day and can be provided once in 15 days which costs Rs. 20 per hector for each watering) and it can stand long periods of drought by shedding most of its leaves to reduce transpiration loss. Jatropha curcas is also suitable for preventing soil erosion and shifting of sand dunes.
Field testing of performance of Jatropha Hybrids is undergoing in the center of Excellence in Biofuels, Agricultural Engineering College and Research Institute, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore 641 003, India, by Dr. M. Paramathma. It matures and come to harvest in 6 months and 16 days after planting. It is photo insensitive hybrid and harvest can be done once in 45 days.
Analysis of the Jatropha curcas seed shows the following chemical composition:
Moisture 6.20 % Protein 18.00 % Fat 38.00 %
Carbohydrates 17.00 % Fiber 15.50 % Ash 5.30 %
The oil content is 25 – 30% in the seeds and 50 – 60% in the kernel. The oil contains 21% saturated fatty acids and 79% unsaturated fatty acids. There are some chemical elements in the seed, Cursin, which are poisonous and render the oil not appropriate for human consumption.
Oil as Raw material : Oil has a very high saponification value and is being extensively used for making soap in some countries. Also, the oil is used as an illuminant in lamps as it burns without emitting smoke. It is also used as fuel in place of, or along with, Kerosine in stoves.
Medicinal plant : The latex of Jatropha curcas contains an alkaloid known as jatrophine, which is believed to have anti-cancerous properties. It is also used as an external application for skin diseases and rheumatism and for sores on domestic livestock. In addition, the tender twigs of the plant are used for cleaning teeth, while the juice of the leaf is used as an external application for piles. Finally, the roots are reported to be used as an antidote for snake-bites.
Raw material for dye : The bark of Jatropha curcas yields a dark blue dye which is used for colouring cloth, fishing nets and lines.
Soil enrichment : Jatropha curcas / Castor oil cake is rich in nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium and can be used as organic manure.
Leaves : Jatropha leaves are used as food for the tusser silkworm.
Insecticide/ pesticide : The seeds are considered anthelimintic in Brazil, and the leaves are used for fumigating houses against bed-bugs. Also, the ether extract shows antibiotic activity against Styphylococcus aureus and Escherichia coli.
Alternative to Diesel : It is significant to point out that, the non-edible vegetable oil of Jatropha curcas / Castor has the requisite potential of providing a promising and commercially viable alternative to diesel oil since it has desirable physicochemical and performance characteristics comparable to diesel. Cars could be run with Jatropha curcas without requiring much change in design.
There a number of varieties of Jatropha. Best among these is Jatropha curcas. Some of the others are
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Jatropha curcas (nontoxic)
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Jatropha curcas x Jatropha integrerrima
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Jatropha gossypifolia
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Jatropha glandulifera
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Jatropha tanjorensis
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Jatropha multifida
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Jatropha podagrica
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Jatropha integerrima
For mitigating climate change by reducing emission of green house gases, meeting rural energy needs, protecting the environment and generating gainful employment, Jatropha curcas / Castor has multiple role to play. All attempts to increase its production and productivity, oil extraction by application of appropriate technology, product development and diversification and policies that will protect and promote national interest would be welcome.
* There can be 4 Business Lines
Plantation of Jatropha curcas
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Collection of Oil bearing seeds
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Processing of seeds to produce oil and seed cake. Processing of cake to get Bio Gas and Bio Fertilizer
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Manufacture of biodiesel
The oil cake is rich in nutrients and will give bio-gas and very good bio fertilizer for soils which are getting increasingly deficient in carbon and nutrients. Every component of the program will generate massive employment for the poor belonging to the Scheduled Tribes, Scheduled castes and other under privileged categories living mostly in backward areas, which have experienced the adverse impact of forest degradation, and loss of natural resources.
Pruning of Jatropha in first two years is important. It is highly labour intensive. Cheap Labour is key factor in the profitability of the plantation activity. The top of the sapling is cut in nursery, just before sending it for planting in Plantation. It is pruned twice or thrice in first two years. Due to pruning activity, there is lesser flowering and fruiting in first two years. After every pruning, 4 branches emerge from earlier node. To get 1 Kilogram of seeds after 2 to 3 years, from a plant, it should have at least 24 to 30 secondary or tertiary branches.
Oil Bearing Trees - Selection of Jatropha curcas
There are more than 100 tree species which bear seeds rich in oil having excellent properties as a fuel and which can be processed into a diesel substitute. Of these some promising tree species have been evaluated and it has been found that Jatropha curcas (Ratanjyot), Pongamia pinnata (Honge or Karanj) and Castor (Erand) are the most suitable. However, the advantage is clearly in favour of Jatropha curcas due to the following reasons.
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Oil yield per hectare is among the highest of tree borne oil seeds.
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It can be grown in areas of low rainfall (500 to 1,000 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 (but it is expensive system).
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Jatropha / Castor is easy to establish, grows relatively quickly and is hardy.
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Jatropha / Castor plantations have 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 slightly alkaline soils. As such it can be used to reclaim waste lands in the forests and outside.
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Jatropha / Castor seeds are easy to collect as they are ready to be plucked after the rainy season and as the plants are not very tall.
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Jatropha / Castor is not browsed by animals.
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Being rich in nitrogen, the seed cake is an excellent source of plant nutrients.
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Seed production ranges from about 0.4 tons per hectare in first year to over 5 tons per hectare after 3 years.
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The Jatropha plantation starts giving seed in a maximum period of two years after planting, while Castor bears seed in 5 months (It is a crop).
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Raising plants in nurseries, planting and maintaining them and collection of seed are labour intensive activities. Except for the cost of fertilizer and transportation of the plants from a on-site nursery, all the activities in the nurseries and in plantation consist of labour.
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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.
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Like all trees, Jatropha / Castor 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.
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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, but has no tap root. It makes plant weak. Castor is grown from seeds only.
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The plant is undemanding in soil type and does not require tillage.
Types of Lands where It can Grow With advantage and Potential of Plantation
The list of advantages mentioned above make Jatropha / Castor plantation very attractive on the kinds of lands mentioned below. The potential for coverage of each kind of land in India, is as follows.
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Forests cover 69 Million hectares of which 38 million hectares is dense forest and 31 million hectares is under stocked. Of this 14 million hectares of forests are under the Joint Forestry Management. About 3.0 million hectares (notional) of land in forests should easily come under Jatropha curcas plantation.
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142 million hectares of land is under agriculture. It will be reasonable to assume that farmers will like to put a hedge around 30 million hectares of their fields for protection of their crops. It will amount to 3.0 million hectares (notional) of Jatropha curcas plantation.
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The cultivators are expected to adopt it by way of agro forestry. Considerable land is held by absentee land lords who will be attracted to Jatropha curcas as it does not require looking after and gives a net income of Rs 15,000 per hectare. Two Million Hectares of notional plantation is expected.
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Culturable fallow lands are reported to be 24 million hectares of which current fallow lands are 10 million hectares and other fallows are 14 million hectares. Ten percent of such land (2.4 million hectares) is expected to come under Jatropha curcas plantation.
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On wastelands under Integrated Watershed Development and other poverty alleviation programs of Ministry of Rural Development a potential of 2 million hectares of plantation is assessed.
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On vast stretches of public lands along railway tracks, roads and canals. One million hectares of notional coverage with Jatropha curcas is a reasonable assessment.
On the basis of above analysis it should be reasonable to assume that with proper extension, research, availability of planting material and funds, plantation of Jatropha curcas on 13.4 million hectares of land is feasible in the immediate future. Institutional finance for private plantation and governmental allocation for public lands will have to be provided. Once success is achieved on the lands described above it should be possible to include very low fertility soils which are classified unculturable in this program. A significant proportion of such lands can also be brought under Jatropha curcas plantation in an economically feasible manner. It will result in rehabilitation of degraded lands.
Nursery Raising and Plantation : You can set up nurseries which will supply plants to the beneficiary to ensure success of plantations and quick return. It will also result in seed production at the end of the first year itself. Nurseries will supply seedlings to the farmers in their village. A seedling will start yielding seeds after a year of its plantation. A nursery can produce 20 lakh plants a year. Hence over a period of 3 years it will produce 6 million (60 lakh) plants and will be sufficient to cover 2000 Hectares of plantation. For the non-forest area 1500 nurseries will be required. For the plantation in forest and adjoining areas one thousand nurseries will be established These nurseries may be developed by the individuals.
It is planted at a spacing of 3m X 3m and 1,100 plants will be grown in 1 hectare of Jatropha plantation. Pits are dug manually or using a post hole digger, attached to a tractor. Although using a sapling of 1 to 3 months grown in a nursery should not result in the usual rates of mortality of plantations, it will be reasonable to assume that 20% of the plants will need replaced.
Cost of Plantation
The cost of plantation has been estimated to be Rs. 25,000 per hectare, inclusive of plantation and maintenance for one year, training, overheads etc. It includes elements such as site preparation, digging of pits, fertilizer & manure, cost of sapling and planting, irrigation, deweeding, plant protection, maintenance for one year i.e., the stage up to which it will start seed production etc. The cost of training, awareness generation, monitoring & evaluation is also included.
The area shown in Red is fertile (Food Basins where Jatropha / Castor plantations are unviable) while that shown in Pink are desert and that shown in Blue are high mountains (where it is difficult to grow Jatropha). It can be grown in all areas shown in green.
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