Hi Dick and all the others... Sorry it has taken me some time to come back to you. The reasons being.. to much other things... and then I had to go back to the people from Binga Trees, who actually are the ones who brought me to the idea of start using Jatropha for Bio-Diesel. Jatropha is extensively tested as SVO in various Diesel engines and seams to do quite well. Despite the fact, that I'm also looking into this subject - at least for some vehicles - I'd rather esterificate it first. Furthermore, I have a bit of a confusion on how do degum the SVO without esterifying it into Bio-Diesel. Some reports recommend degumming, drying, and filtering (but not neutralizing) before using as SVO-Fuel. Perhaps someone can help me on the degumming part...???
----- Original Message ----- >From: Dick Carlstein >To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] >Sent: Saturday, July 14, 2001 4:59 PM >Subject: jatropha >urs, from your posting in the biofuel list, i take it you are familiar >with the biodiesel use of jatropha ? I have not actually made any biodiesel out of jatropha yet, but hope to do soon - currently in set up phase. >if so, how do you go about harvesting, You have to harvest by hand. The best is to wait till the nuts are ripe and quite dry. This way they fall down by itself or just with a little help by shaking the tree. Despite the fact that you can harvest the nuts while they still greenish and on the tree, this is not recommended, as it may result in some juice dripping form the trees and this will give irremovable stains on clothing. Also it is much easier to just pick them up. Harvesting is done about once a month during season or about 3-5 times a year. >and then pressing the fruit, to obtain the oil ? We are using a small (~ 60 l/h max.) electrical spindle press. The yield is about 25% - but only 1st time pressing is done at the moment as a second pressing of the cake is usually resulting in machine blockage. This is probably due to the fact that the machine is only used occasionally and not continuously. Also the cage was a bit on the 'loose' end but has been fixed in the meantime.. we will see if we can try again. 2nd pressing should increase the yield to close to 30%. The total oil-content is about 35%. I think that chemical extraction and/or 2nd pressing should bring the yield to above 30%. >whereabouts are you located ? Binga, Zimbabwe, Africa, just on lake Kariba (17¼36'S-27¼21'E), about 650m above sea level. The average rainfalls reach around 400 - 500 mm p.a., most of it falls in one month and about 8 months a year are dry (winter season). Night temperatures do not fall below about 8¼C at night and Day temperatures do seldom exceed 41¼C. Winter Day temperatures are around 20-30¼C high, Summer Night temperatures around 16-22¼C low. (All regional values). >do you crop jatropha, and if so what geometrical distribution are you >using ? how high do you allow it to grow ? any other by-products, or >just the oil and meal ? what do you use the meal for ? Binga Trees is buying the seeds from locals (I plan to do the same). They use the oil mainly for soap production and as lightening fuel. Most plantations are done in form of hedges, also to protect from/keep animals since the plant is not eaten by the animals. Due to the deep roots, the plants provide excelent erosion controll. If planted as hedges, plant about 4 plants per meter. For fields a distance of about 3 meters is used, but according to the yield table on http://journeytoforever.org/biodiesel_yield.html with an estimated oil yield of 1892 l/ha (the 6th highest of all the plants listed) it suggests, that the planting distance may be reduced to about 2 x 2,8m for increased harvests. We calculate at about 4 kg seeds per tree, nevertheless, I have one tree (solitaire) in my garden that yields well above 6 kg p.a. I'm currently starting (preparing for the next rainy season) a field of about 1-3 ha, so ask me again in 1¸ years :-). The plants are nursed either from the nuts (gives a stronger root) or from cuttings. Harvest starts after 1 year. General cutting will increase the harvest and also provides cuttings for new plants. Most plants are, for practical reasons, kept at a height of about 2,2 to 3 meters but some farmers let them grow to full height (about 5-6 meters). I guess it also depends on what density they have been planted, hedges are generally kept on the lower end. Since all products (seeds, leaves, wood) contain phorbol ester (toxic), the use of the products as well as of the by-products is limited. But still, the cake (meal) makes an excelent fertilizer. The toxic element is quite complicated to be taken out, but it disappears for example during the soap making process. Also by composting, the toxic element will decompose itself. Therefore, the cake from oil processing can be used as is as fertilizer. Tests of Binga Trees in cooperation with a local agricultural training center have shown, that a quantity of 1 kg/m2 is sufficient for intensive vegetable gardening and brings the best results. Higher quantities do not increase yield sufficiently to justify for it. I also intend to reuse the cake to re-fertilize the Jatropha plantation itself. The use as fertilizer is comparable with the use of cattle-manure, but it avoids the local problem with cut-worms. >i understand that jatropha grows mainly in africa, but can also be >found in guatemala, and in the canary islands. would this be correct, >or am i missing a few locations ? According to Binga Trees, the Jatropha plant has it origin in South-America (around Venezuela) and has moved over the most of South- and Central America. It has been brought by the Portuguese to Cape Verde for medical use (as a laxative - it's not used for this anymore as it has been to crude!) and then to Senegal. From there the plant has found its way over most of Africa but (up till now) with a rather limited use. >thanks for your time urs, i manufacture small (100-750 k liters/yr) >biodiesel plants, and am trying to orient my clients towards >alternative crops, as well as alternative fuels. > >cheers, dick. Your welcome :-) and I hope that yourself and some other people can make use of the information. I would not have been able to give all this informations without the assistance from the Warndorff's at Binga Trees - many thanks there as well. Also since you are manufacturing small biodiesel plants, perhaps you could give me some information on this side. I'm planning to set up a plant with about 2k liters/week here in Binga (very rural! so limited supply of oil) and if it works I'm considering an other plant with about 5-10k liters/week in Bulawayo (Zimbabwe.. so still limited supply LOL). Since steelwork and labor is plenty and cheep, but Forex and transport are rare and expensive (we have an ongoing fuel shortage due to forex shortage since end of 1999), I anticipate, that the plant should be manufactured locally with only limited imported inputs. But I do also believe, that there may be a market for small (batch) plants for self use. Also the fuel prices have soared here due to political problems from about ZW$ 25 to ZW$ 70 at still the same official exchange rate of 55/1 vs. the US$. So maybe we could arrange something? Even under license or so. Please keep in touch. Urs C. Banziger JUMANJI Group of Companies P.O. Box 147 Binga, Zimbabwe Biofuel at Journey to Forever: http://journeytoforever.org/biofuel.html Please do NOT send "unsubscribe" messages to the list address. To unsubscribe, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
