Thank you, Mukulda.
Now I can relate to Jatropha. I remember rows of Bhwt Era around nalbarir
gaonor ghor. Also Nabagraha Pahar slopes used to have lots of them. Probably
they are all gone now.
I found another good article on the plant. It will be interesting to those
who have been wondering why all this noise about Jatropha. There is a picture
of the kind that grows in Kerala.
The article claims the plant lives to be fifty years old. That's not how I
remember Bhwt Era shrub. Is there a difference between the kinds in Kerala and
Assam?
Dilip
Jatropha The Rag to Riches Story of a Humble Plant !!!
Cinderella among plants
The story of a plant so far left uncared, un-attended and considered a menace
has raised to the status of Cinderella- the poor house maid who happened to be
the bride of the ruling prince! Jatropha (also known as physic-nut tree) is a
shrub that used to grow every where required no manures, not to be watered;
even pests left it uncared so it was not affected by any diseases. Being a
vagabond in plant kingdom, people just let it grow on the hedges and the poor
tree got the duty as a hedge-row plant. It bore seeds so far no one cared, who
bothered of a useless seed of a waste land plant.
New suitors
All that has changed, the complete scenario has changed now this Cinderella
is a princess with many suitors. Multinationals stand on knee before her for
the magnificent fruits she bears. Jatropha fruits (looks like a grape- fruit
four times its weight), each fruit contains three seeds about the size of a
plum. These seeds contain about 35% oil that can be dehydrated can be used as
bio-diesel, there is the point, this time of fuel crisis (not just shortage
but being used as a weapon by those who own it) any thing that can be used as a
substitute immediately gains public attention.
Bunches of oil
Jatropha being a shrub (a half sized tree belonging to the family
euphorbiaceae) has a life span of about 50 years (hence periodical planting etc
are not needed). It has succulent stem, single- lobbed large green leaves and
grows to only eight to ten feet in height, and hence collection of fruits is
easy. Each year it bears several bunches of fruits (each bunch has five to
eight fruits) with oil- rich seeds, the oil is un-edible, but has some
medicinal properties. The oil was previously used for making soaps and
varnishes, the bio-diesel purpose is only a recently invented one.
It is all about money, honey!
The economics of planting it in commercial scale is baffling. The total oil
yield will not be less than 1300 kilograms of seeds per hectare per year. It is
about ten times the quantity corn can yield or 50% more than what sugarcane
yield in ethanol. The money to be spent for cultivation is the most compelling
aspect as it a perennial plant repeated planting is not necessary that saves
much in cost. This crop generally requires no irrigation pesticide or manure.
Only job of the farmer is to collect the fruits and send it to a mill or sell
it outright and fill his pocket.
Brazilian the brave
Brazilians are very innovative and the last fuel crisis (when crude was
traded above seventy dollars/barrel) was utilized by them as a great
opportunity to market ethanol the bio petrol extracted from molasses via
sugar-cane root. All their sugar factories turned out to be ethanol units) At
present when crude is trading 50+ a barrel they are all out to find a new
opportunity in this crisis (falling crude prize!). If their concerted efforts
bear fruits soon there will gallons and gallons of solution for the fuel crisis
(the bio-diesel).
All gas no oil
About one year back Indian Railway Minister Mr. Lalu Prasad Yadav has
declared that jatropha will be cultivated in the waste-lands owned by Indian
Railway. It seems that his declaration ended up as just declaration as the
crude prize eased a tad. Further declarations will come only when crude will
jump to 80+ dollars a barrel. Indian Railway has got plenty of waste-lands in
its custody, even leasing out it for jatropha farmers could earn a hefty amount
for the Railways and employment for the laborers.
A Lesson from Brazil
There on bio-diesel company (Bionasa) with participation with local investors
is all set to plant 2, 00,000 hectares with jatropha, Brazil is all set to make
blending of 2% bio-fuel mandatory and companies are in a race to meet the
ensuing demand. Brazil is already the top maker and exporter of ethanol and it
makes a tidy sum out of the oil crises that raise its head occasionally. There
is all evidence to show that in the near future jatropha will rise as the most
popular oil crop in that country.
Out-source it
Recently US government has raised its allocation for promoting bio-fuels
about five times and that augurs well with the present trend of turning to
alternate fuels. The corn route they have selected seems to be a wrong one as
there is more scope in jatropha both in cost of production and oil yield. Let
us hope America will spend some portion of the allocation in promoting jatropha
plants. If America has no time for cultivation, it can be outsourced, India is
here with a lot of waste lands and a lot of waste people to plant it!
mc mahant <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
P { margin:0px; padding:0px } body { FONT-SIZE: 10pt;
FONT-FAMILY:Tahoma } What is Jatropha called in Assamese= Bhwot Eraa
Fruits are like Singharas(Samosa) -have a few seeds - ripe/dry seeds are
crushed to get the oil.
Barir Dhaapot Rwowea. Cattle avoid the toxic plant.
Not a harmless- all goody-goody plant though!
More in Water-Watch letters by Rajendra Singh pulling Kalam down.
Big yields promised byJustifiers.
Meager -uneconomical in the long run by opponents!
mm
---------------------------------
Date: Mon, 9 Jul 2007 07:05:54 -0700
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Assam] Boon For Biofuels
Biofuels galore - Gwbor Gas is one of them. I remember the efforts in India
in the sixties and seventies to ferment Gwbor in tanks to produce methane and
make each village self sufficient in lighting and cooking fuel. What happened
to it?
This article told me why Jatropha diesel is preferred over ethanol from corn.
The Jatropha plants can grow where food crops like rice or corn will not. I am
glad that some researchers are looking at the ecological big picture in stead
of going whole hog for ethanol.
Also I saw a clear picture of Jatropha nut for the first time. What is
Jatropha called in Assamese?
Dilip
=================================================================
Latest News
July 9, 2007
Boon For Biofuels New projects seek to create energy from a range of renewable
feedstocks Michael McCoy CHEMICAL and biotechnology companies have announced
a flurry of initiatives aimed at creating fuels and other forms of energy from
a wide variety of biomass sources.
Dreamstime Proponents of jatropha say the oilseed doesn't compete with
food crops for land.
The projects seek to turn everything from algae to manure to oil seeds into
sustainable energy that can supplement traditional fossil fuels. At least one
scientist watching the energy sector, however, is deeply skeptical that crops
can be grown for their energy content without dire environmental consequences.
British companies BP and D1 Oils have formed a joint venture called D1-BP
Fuel Crops to accelerate the planting of Jatropha curcas, a drought-resistant,
oilseed-bearing tree, as a raw material source for biodiesel.
The companies say they will invest around $160 million over the next five
years to cultivate jatropha in Southeast Asia, Southern Africa, Central and
South America, and India. They say the oilseed is a desirable biodiesel
feedstock because it does not compete with food crops for good agricultural
land or adversely impact the rainforest.
Honeywell's UOP subsidiary, meanwhile, has embarked on a project to convert
vegetable and algal oils into military jet fuels. With the help of $6.7 million
in funding from the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the company
hopes to come up with renewable fuels that meet strict military specifications.
Jennifer Holmgren, director of UOP's renewable energy and chemicals business,
says her unit is focused on helping standard refineries accept a broader range
of feedstocks. The jet fuel effort, she adds, will build on a recent agreement
with oil company Eni to convert vegetable oils into diesel fuels in an existing
Italian refinery.
Finally, the Danish biotechnology companies Novozymes and Xergi are teaming
to develop microorganisms that efficiently convert manure into electricity,
heat, fuels, and fertilizer. Novozymes, the world's largest enzymes producer,
cites a Danish government estimate that the energy stored in Danish manure
could supply 25% of the country's transportation energy needs.
Tad W. Patzek, a professor of geoengineering at the University of California,
Berkeley, is critical of such biofuels initiatives. He takes issue with the
basic proposition that "fresh plants produced in real time used as fuel can
replace old plants, whose remnants have accumulated over the last 460 million
years." Attempts to do so, Patzek warns, will rapidly bring on global ecosystem
exhaustion.
But John M. Deutch, a chemistry professor at Massachusetts Institute of
Technology who was director of energy research and undersecretary at the
Department of Energy in the Carter Administration, is more sanguine. He sees
the projects as evidence of corporate and government excitement about new
technology that helps meet the world's future energy needs.
"It is the nature of this high spirit of innovation that some of the ventures
will sound good and not succeed, while others will sound bad and succeed,"
Deutch tells C&EN. "Individuals and investors will make their judgments and
participate accordingly."
Chemical & Engineering News
ISSN 0009-2347
Copyright © 2007 American Chemical Society
---------------------------------
Palate Teasers: Straight from Master Chef! Sanjeev Kapoor
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