Biodiesel:
Please contact the website www.journeytoforever.org. There you find a lot of biodiesel information: http://www.journeytoforever.org/biodiesel.html
The Jatropha website does not promote biodiesel production. The Jatropha website supports the direct use of plant oil as fuel (SVO = straight vegetable oil).

Biogas usinf Jatropha presscake:
JCL oil cake is a very good substrate for biogas production because of its high protein and mineral content. You just add the press cake to the cow manure with which you feed your biogas digestor. You should mix it with the cow dung and water, as one usuall does, so that it can flow easily into the digestor. You can use both, fesh cow dung or already fermented slurry. The latter is richer is biogas bacteria. You should start with small quantities of presscake, so the bacteries can adapt themselfs to the new composition of the substrate.

Climatic conditions:
Jatropha needs a minimum of 600 mm of rainfall. Or special local conditions like high water table, etc. It does not resist to water logging. It is not frost resistant. It can survive long dought periods of 7 or 8 months.

Engines for Jatropha oil, addresses:
The Lister type engines can be used with pure plant oil, without any modification.

All these Lister type engines are produced in Rajkot, India. The best ones seem to be the "Fieldmarshal" engines of the company P.M. Diesels Ltd, AJI Industrial Estate, P.O.Box 1003, Rajkot-360 003, India. Pone: +91 281-87401(-2-3-4), Fax: +91 281-87406, e-mail unknown.

They produce the engines normally in 3 qualities. But the better quality you can only order at the factory.

More details are in the Jatropha website: www.jatropha.org. 

Household / domestic energy:
Why did'nt you ever looked at Jatropha oil as a source of domestic energy in an African household.
We propose the use of Jatropha oil a a domestic energy (see www.Jatropha.org, lamps and cookers). But the technical realisation of plant oil lamps and plant oil cookers is not very simple, because of the different combustion properties of the plant oil versus those of petrol (plant oil doesn't evaporate). See lamps and cookers!

Lubrication oil
Is it possible to use Jatropha oil as lubrication oil?
Yes, it is. Test were carried out at TMW-engine factory in Germany and showed that pure Jatropha oil can be used as lubrication oil during 400 running hours in a slow turning diesel engine (Indian Lister type). Reference   96.13

Medicinal properties:
What are the medical properties of the Jatropha plant?
Since botanically Jatropha is an Euphorbiaceae and very closely related to the castor plant, it also has similar properties: its seeds are used against constipation, the white latex serves as a desinfectant of mouth infections of small children, it also stops bleeding, the leaves are used against malaria and for massage of luxations.
The soap of Jatropha oil is supposed to be effective agains buttons, the oil is used to treat some scin diseases, like neuodermitis. Reference   86.2-1

Pesticide:
Some publications show the oil to be a good general pesticide. If this is so why people are not using ir more?
It seems to be quite difficult to make a good formulation of the oil to applicate it to legumes. Our tests were negative, when we used it directly on the plants (the plants showed burning effects because of the oil properties). Ratnadass of ICRISAT Bamako was working with an extract (phorbol esters) of the oil, which was used in an emulsion of different compounds. Reference   98.2

Rainfall:
Will Jatropha grow and produce seeds in a region of  500mm rain?
The limit of growth for Jatropha is between 600 and 500 mm of rainfall. The exact limit depends much on the local humidity conditions, i. e. in Cap Verde Islands it grows well with only 250 mm of rain, but the air is very humid (cloud milking for rain harvesting at some places).

Soap production:
How is Jatropha soap made?
The composition used in Mali is as follows (calculated for 1 litre of oil):
1 l of oil, 1/2 l of water, 150 g of pure NaOH (sodium hydroxyd) dissolved in the water. During stirring the oil, the water-NaOH solution is mixed with the oil, until a creamy consistence is achieved (like mayonaise). This is poured into a form, where the soap hardens (in tropical countries over night, in Europe that may take up to a week). After hardening the soap is taken out of the form and may be cut into pieces. Reference 94.10

Water requirements:
Jatropha needs a minimum of 600 mm of rainfall. Or special local conditions like high water table, etc. It does not resist to water logging. It can survive long dought periods of 7 or 8 months. It also grows well in rainfall areas of 2000 mm and more.

Yield:
The yield of hedges was measured in Mali and an average of 0,8 kg of seeds per running meter of a hedge was found. High (5 - 6 m) and old hedges gave 2 kg per running meter.

If one  plants these hedges on a hectar with a distance of 3 meters, one has 3.300 meters. And a production of 2.640 kg of seeds. With a hand press this will give you about 660 litres of oil. A modern industrial expeller will give you about 825 litres.

DaimlerChrysler in India calculates with 2.500 kg of seeds per hectar. 

The yield depends very much on the soil and the rainfall and the origin of the plants. There are not yet high yield varieties identified.

This website is maintained by
     
last modification  07.06.04