> gg wrote: > By moving towards biodiesel produced from non-food crops like > Jatropha,
How about solving the energy problem AND solving world hunger and poverty? --------------------------------- Here are some facts and figures about Jatropha relating to its growth as an oil product: - Jatropha grows well on low fertility soils - Jatropha can be intercropped with many cash crops such as coffee, sugar, fruits and vegetables with the Jatropha offering both fertilizer and protection against livestock. - Jatropha needs at least 600mm of rain annually to thrive however it can survive three years of drought by dropping its leaves. - Jatropha is excellent at preventing soil erosion, and the leaves it drops act as a wonderful soil enriching mulch. - The cost of 1000 jatropha saplings (enough for one acre) in Pakistan is around 5000PKR (equiv to around £50 or just 5p each). - After the first five years, the typical annual yield of a jatropha tree is 3.5kg of beans. - Jatropha trees are productive for up to 30-40 years. - 2,200 trees can be planted per hectare (approx 1,000 per acre). - 1 hectare should yield around 7 tonnes of seeds per year. - The oil pressed from 4kg of seeds is needed to make 1 litre of biodiesel. - 91%+ of the oil can be extracted with cold pressing. - 1 hectare should yield around 2.2-2.7 tonnes of oil. - Press cake (seedcake) is left after the oil is pressed from the seeds. This can be composted and used as a high grade nitrogen rich organic fertilizer (green manure). The remaining oil can be used to make skin friendly soap. - One job is created for each 4 hectares of jatropha plantation. - One hectare of jatropha plantation yields 25,000 Rupees / year (around £300) in India. The following stats come from D1 Oils - the UK's biggest biodiesel company: - Crushing 1 tonne of Jatropha seeds costs around $40 (£23). - 1 tonne of seedcake (the leftovers after pressing) can be sold for $100 (£55). - The transport costs of shipping 1 tonne of jatropha from India to Northern Europe is $100 (£55). - The landed cost of 1 tonne of jatropha oil to Northern Europe is between $348 and $500 for oil contents of 29% to 40% (£180 to £260). - Refining jatropha oil into biodiesel costs less than $125 (£65) per tonne. - Filtered jatropha oil can be used as is in many diesel vehicles (as SVO) with only small modifications required to the engine. - Jatropha oil can be used as a kerosene substitute for heating and lamps. - Jatropha oil burns with a clear smokeless flame. ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Adobe® ColdFusion® 8 software 8 is the most important and dramatic release to date Get the Free Trial http://ad.doubleclick.net/clk;160198600;22374440;w Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/message.cfm/messageid:255984 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/CF-Community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/cf_lists/unsubscribe.cfm?user=11502.10531.5
