• Is Jatropha a promising crop for biodiesel production?
  • Jatropha is a promising crop for biodiesel production but the technology is still in its infancy , . The development is still in progress but not much has been realised to date. Further, most of the studies focus on Jatropha plantations, oil extraction and biodiesel production.
  • Why do we need to prepare Jatropha seeds before oil extraction?
  • High production of biodiesel is required to cope with the depletion of current energy sources. Hence, a large amount of Jatropha seeds need to be prepared prior to the oil extraction process in order to meet the demand.
  • What is Jatropha used for?
  • From these initial sites jatropha has spread across many African countries to be mainly used for planting live fences. In general the oil was only used for folk remedies until the early 1980s, when the drive developed to find sources of vegetable oil for production of biofuels.
  • Can jatropha oil be used for biogas production?
  • Crude jatropha oil filtering systems in use in Zambia to produce oil clean enough for fuelling modified diesel motors (in pumps and generators) and vehicles Jatropha seedcake 2 as with all forms of seedcake, including from castor oil plant 2 is a possible feedstock for biogas production.
  • How long does it take to develop a jatropha oil industry?
  • While industries like rubber, coffee, tea or oil palm growing may have taken up to 100 years to develop and evolve to their present state, the jatropha oil industry is likely now to begin in some countries only on the basis to 10 to 15 years of work.
  • How much does jatropha oil cost?
  • This must be factored against the fact that the cost of jatropha oil on the world market in 2012 delivered to NW Europe was around US$1000/tonne, comparing with edible oils like palm oil at about US$1200 and soybean oil at about US$1000.