Jatropha a Viable Alternative Renewable Energy

Constantly the biodiesel market is trying to find some option to produce renewable resource. Biodiesel prepared from canola, sunflower and jatropha can replace or be combined with standard diesel. During first half of 2000’s jatropha biofuel made the headings as a popular and promising option. It is prepared from jatropha curcas, a plant types native 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 quickly and it can yield seeds for about 50 years. The oil got from its seeds can be utilized as a biofuel. This can be blended with petroleum diesel. Previously it has been utilized twice with algae mix to fuel test flight of commercial airline companies.

Another positive method of jatorpha seeds is that they have 37% oil content and they can be burned as a fuel without improving them. It is also utilized for medical function. Supporters of jatropha biodiesel say that the flames of jatropha oil are smoke free and they are successfully tested for basic diesel engines.

Jatropha biodiesel as Renewable Energy Investment has drawn in the interest of lots of companies, which have checked it for automotive use. Jatropha biodiesel has actually been road tested by Mercedes and 3 of the cars and trucks have actually covered 18,600 miles by utilizing the jatropha plant biodiesel.

Since it is since of some downsides, the jatropha biodiesel have not thought about as a wonderful renewable resource. The most significant issue is that no one understands that what exactly the of the plant is. Secondly they do not know how big scale growing might 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 problem. On the other hand it is to be noted that jatropha can grow on tropical environments with yearly rains of about 1000 to 1500 mm. A thing to be kept in mind is that jatropha needs proper irrigation in the first year of its plantation which lasts for decades.

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

Jatropha has one main downside. The seeds and leaves of jatropha are toxic to humans and livestock. This made the Australian government to ban the plant in 2006. The federal government declared the plant as invasive types, and too risky for western Australian farming and the environment here (DAFWQ 2006).

While jatropha has stimulating budding, there are number of research obstacles stay. The value of cleansing needs to be studied due to the fact that of the toxicity of the plant. Along side a methodical study of the oil yield have to be carried out, this is really crucial because of high yield of jatropha would probably needed before jatropha can be contributed significantly to the world. Lastly it is likewise very crucial to study about the jatropha species that can survive in more temperature climate, as jatropha is very much limited in the tropical climates.