Biodiesel from Jatropha Curcas
Besides being robust, this amazing plant is capable of yielding seeds with oil that can be utilised for combustion as fuel. It can be burned in the extracted form without being refined and burns with a clear smoke-free flame. The oil has been tested successfully as fuel for simple diesel engine. The by-products are press-cake, which is a good organic fertilizer. The oil also contains insecticide.
Jatropha Curcas
Known commonly in English as Physic Nut or Purging Nut, Jatropha Curcas is perceived as the most appropriate seed among numerous species for its oil yield. Jatropha is also an alternative and renewable source of energy as it is employed to produce biodiesel. Though there are other sources obtainable, Jatropha is favoured for its positive characteristics like robust nature, swift gestation period, excessive recovery and excellence of oil.
Jatropha Curcas is a perennial plant commonly found in areas that are impervious to hostile environment like drought and marginal or inferior soil. While it is easily planted and grows quite rapidly, it exists for extended durations of up to 50 years generating seeds.
Jatropha grows in the wild in many regions of the world. A first-rate crop can be obtained with moderate endeavour. Depending on soil quality and rainfall, oil can be extracted from the Jatropha nuts after two to five years. The annual nut yield ranges from 0.5 to 12 tons. The kernels consist of about 45% percent oil; this oil can be transformed into bio diesel fuel through transesterafacation. Medically it is used for diseases like cancer, piles, snakebite, paralysis, dropsy etc.
The Distribution and Habitat
It has been most flourishing in the arid terrains of the tropics with an annual rainfall of 300-1000 mm. It is found chiefly at lower altitudes (0-500 m) in locales with average annual temperatures well above 20°C but can grow at higher altitudes too and endures slight frostiness. It grows on well-drained soils with superior aeration and is suitably adapted to subsidiary soils with minimal nutrient content.
The Botanical Features
It is a diminutive tree or shrub with soft grey bark. The bark discharges white and watery latex when cut. generally, it grows between three and five meters tall, but can achieve a height of up to eight or ten meters under encouraging surroundings.
The Leaves and the Flowers
The leaves are large and green to pale-green, alternate to sub-opposite, three-to five-lobed with a spiral phyllotaxis. The petiole length ranges between 6-23 mm. The inflorescence is formed in the leaf axils.
Flowering transpires in the summer seasons and flowers are formed terminally and individually with female flowers generally larger to some extent. In circumstances where constant growth takes place, an imbalance of pistillate or staminate flower production results in a higher number of female flowers. If bee keeping is done along, more number of female flowers is grown by the plant. Consequently, additional female flowers give extra number of seeds.
The Fruits and the Seeds
Fruits are produced in winter when the shrub is leafless. Conversely, it may produce numerous crops during the year if soil moisture is advantageous and temperatures are adequately high. Each inflorescence yields a bunch of approximately ten or more ovoid fruits. Three valve, bi-valve cocci are formed after the seeds become fully grown and the fleshy exocarp dries.
The seeds 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. We take Jatropha seeds from trees matured for more than 30 years. Hence, our seeds offer you exceptional germination and yield. The seeds have lavish oil content and bestow brilliant results. Our superb quality, reasonably priced seeds have fine immunity against diseases as they withstand diverse environmental and biological assaults.
Our Jatropha Plantation Services
Many inconsistent constraints such as development costs, estimate of gestation periods and yield prospective play significant roles in the management of a Jatropha Curcas plantation project. Moreover, procuring processing machinery with optimum performance is tremendously essential. GenX, incorporates all these features at every juncture of Jatropha Curcas plantation to ensure a fruitful and lucrative plantation that can be nurtured over time. The key characteristics that can instigate the oil yield of Jatropha Curcas are climate, quality of the soil, irrigation, crop density, genotype, inter-cropping, weeding and use of fertilizer and pesticide.
Our Exclusive Plantation Services
The significance of proper guidance and efficient management at every stage of a Jatropha Curcas cultivation project cannot be overemphasised. Beginning with distinguishing and gauging the feasibility of Jatropha Curcas cultivation, scrutiny of the proposed site, capability of soil nutrients, transportation needs and the marketing potential have to be considered.
The crucial aspects for which guidance is required at various stages are as under:
Implementation stage - preparing the land for Jatropha Curcas cultivation,
planting and sowing of seeds, managing irrigation and controlling the nutrition requirements
Harvesting stage - guidance on maintaining seed integrity
Processing stage - thorough knowledge of the machinery and processes
Besides, there is also an active need at all times to handle external factors such as pests and diseases.
GenX, provides Jatropha plantation services such as:
Site selection
Selection of seeds
Choosing cropping methods
Managing fertilizer requirements
Managing pest control methods
Advice on harvesting methods
Acquiring processing machinery
Our vast network of plantations worldwide and the first United States Jatropha Nursery operated by GenX allow us to meet the needs of any requested amount of Jatropha seedlings ( 18-24 inch) with a 2,500 seedling minimum order.
1-866-951-GenX