PROSPECTS FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROM JATROPHA CURCAS: A CASE STUDY OF BANGLADESH AGRICULTURAL...

PROSPECTS FOR BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROMJATROPHA CURCAS: A CASE STUDY OF BANGLADESHAGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY FARM

E. Kabir1, D. Hussain2, A. Haque2, and K.-H. Kim1

1Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Sejong University, Seoul, Korea2Department of Farm Power & Machinery, Bangladesh Agricultural University,

Mymensingh, Bangladesh

In this article, we analyzed the prospects for biodiesel production of Jatropha curcas. This

study took place at Bangladesh Agricultural University farm in the Mymensingh district from

October 2006 to November 2007. Branch cuttings, collected from mother plants in the

Modhupur forest area of Tangail district, were planted in pits on October 2006. Our

measurements then focused on plant growth, flowers per plant, fruits per plant, seeds per

plant, and the physical characteristics of the Jatropha fruit. The efficiency of oil extraction

from the Jatropha seed was compared between chemical and mechanical methods. The

results indicated that the former approach was more effective despite its high cost. The

percentage of oil content in the Jatropha seed was estimated at almost 36 wt%. Although

Jatropha curcas can be utilized as a new cash crop, more research is needed to account for its

potential as a biodiesel fuel.

Keywords: Biodiesel; Efficiency; Extraction; Jatropha curcas

INTRODUCTION

Growth in the automotive industry, along with increases in population and gains in

worldwide standards of living, has resulted in greater demand for energy sources such as

biodiesel fuel. Numerous countries face challenges related to energy and increasing

demands for the development in agriculture, industry, transportation, and other sectors of

the economy. Because many countries are dependent on imports of commercial fossil fuel,

petroleum and its by-products, and coal, national economies can be vulnerable to external

price shocks from the international energy market. The search for alternative fuels is thus a

major environmental and political challenge.

Biodiesel is a promising alternative source of fuel. Being a chemical compound of

methyl ester, biodiesel can be extracted from plants (Alptekin and Canakci 2007). Research

indicates that biodiesel can be perfectly burned (i.e., it is clean burning) as fuel and

produces 78% less carbon dioxide than regular diesel (Sheehan et al. 1998). Biodiesel

can also be used directly in diesel engines, as it has a high cetane number and a calorific

value that is close to diesel (Kumar, Ramesh, and Nagalingam 2003). Although the brake

International Journal of Green Energy, 6: 381–391, 2009

Copyright � Taylor & Francis Group, LLC

ISSN: 1543-5075 print / 1543-5083 online

DOI: 10.1080/15435070903107064

Address correspondence to K.-H. Kim, Department of Earth & Environmental Sciences, Sejong

University, Seoul, 143-747 Korea. E-mail: [email protected]

381

Downloaded By: [KIM, KI-HYUN] At: 22:43 11 August 2009

thermal efficiency of biodiesel is inferior to diesel, it can be used as a mixture with

petroleum-based diesel in any proportion (Khan, Chhetri, and M. R. Islam 2000).

Some prominent nonedible oil seed–producing plants include Jatropha curcas,

Pongamia pinnata or karanj, Calophyllum inophyllum or nagchampa, Hevea brasiliensis

or rubber seeds, Calotropis gigantia or ark, Euphorbia tirucalli or sher, Boswellia

ovalifololata, and neem (Azam, Waris, and Nahar 2005). Because Jatropha grows in

harsh areas such as wastelands, it is one of the economic plants for biodiesel production.

In terms of oil yield rate, Jatropha is a highly efficient plant for tree-borne oil seeds

(Islam and Hussain 2005).

Jatropha curcas belongs to the family of Euphorbiaceae. Jatropha is hardy and easy

to establish, and it grows relatively quickly (Openshaw 2000). Although it is native to

tropical America, it now thrives throughout Africa and Asia (Cano-Asseleih, Plumbly, and

Hylands 1989). Jatropha grows in a number of climatic zones in tropical and subtropical

regions around the world, and it can be cultivated in areas of low rainfall (Openshaw 2000).

It can be grown as a boundary fence or live hedge in the arid and semiarid areas. It can also

be used to reclaim eroded areas, being drought tolerant.

METHODOLOGY

The experimental site was located at 24� 75† N latitude and 90� 50† E longitude at an

elevation of 18 m above sea level. The site falls under Agro-Ecological Zone 9 (AEZ-9) on

the river in the Brahmaputra floodplain in Bangladesh (Food and Agriculture Organization

of the United Nations 1990; Figure 1). The experimental site is characterized by moderately

Figure 1 Arial map of study sites for Jatropha samples.

382 KABIR ET AL.


high temperature, high humidity, and heavy rainfall with occasional gusty winds from April

to September, as well as scanty rainfall associated with moderately low temperatures from

October to March.

Pit Preparation and Propagation

The size of the pits for the plantation of the cuttings was 50 cm · 50 cm. The soil was

taken out and dried for 1 week. The pits were refilled with one-third normal soil, one-third

sand, and one-third compost, after stones and boulders were removed (Figure 2a).

There are various methods for the propagation of Jatropha, either generative or

vegetative. Although direct seeding generally has a low survival rate, it can be successful

under feasible conditions (e.g., optimal soil moisture content and sufficient seed supply

per hole). Good survival rates (. 90%) are normally achieved by directly planting the

cuttings or by transplanting methods (Heller 1996). Hence, the direct planting method

was applied with the cuttings of the branches were collected from the northern part of

Bangladesh. For plantation purposes, branches 30 cm long and 3 cm thick were selected

(Figure 2b). To pr

Intercultural Operations and HarvestingFertilizing. About 2 kg of organic manure mixed with fertilizers containing N, P,

and K were applied at the time of planting. An admixture of 20 g of urea, 120 g of single

super phosphate (SSP), and 16 g of muriate of potash (MOP) were applied after the plant

was established. The plants responded well to the addition of fertilizers containing small

amounts of calcium, magnesium, and sulfur as well as organic rich nutrition.

Pruning. The plants must produce side shoots to maximize flowers and seed (Kumar

and Sharma 2008). Pruning was done to ensure proper shape and size when the branches

reached a height of 40–60 cm during the first year. The top of the plant was cut to produce

8–12 side branches. Because branches grow near the base, they were removed every year

and replanted elsewhere. For easy harvesting, the tree height must be less than 2 m.

Hoeing and weeding. It is necessary to hoe and weed Jatropha plants at least

twice a year, especially during the establishment period (Figure 2c). Weeding was done

whenever necessary to keep the plant free from weeds, to facilitate soil aeration, and to

break the crust. This also helped conserve soil moisture.

Harvesting. The degree of flowering in the Jatropha plant depends upon location

and agro-climatic conditions, as fruit can mature in 2 to 4 months. Flowering of the

Jatropha began in the middle of May, and the fruit was harvested in July. During the

harvesting period, the fruits in their maturity showed characteristic colors and sizes. The

ripened fruits were then collected from the branch by hand and stored in dry place.

Processing, Handling, and Storage

Once collected, the fruits were dried until they were unfolded. The seeds were

separated from the fruits, dried in the shade (to reduce the negative effect of sunlight on

seed viability), and sorted according to quality. Only good seeds were used for planting,

while others were used for oil extraction. The dried seeds were stored in airtight containers

instead.

BIODIESEL PRODUCTION FROM JATROPHA CURCAS 383


Chemical Method for Oil Extraction from Jatropha Seed

Vegetable oil can be extracted chemically with solvent extracts that produce higher

yields. Mechanical extraction is another way that combines several different modes. In

addition, the oil from Jatropha seeds can also be extracted by both chemical and mechan-

ical methods. The oil content of the Jatropha seed was determined by cold percolation

method. The word cold in this context implies that extraction proceeds at room temperature

without heating.

Preparation of seeds. As the ripe fruits were plucked from the trees, the seeds

were sun dried and decorticated manually. For oil extraction, seeds should be solar heated

for several hours or roasted for 10 min. This drying process can facilitate the breakdowns of

the cells containing the oil to facilitate the liquation.

1/3Normal

soil

(a)

1/3Sand

1/3Compost

(b) (c)

Figure 2 Pictures of Jatropha plantation: (a) Pit soil composition, (b) Hoeing and weeding, and (c) Cutting for

Jatropha plantation.

384 KABIR ET AL.


Equipment and chemicals used. For the experiment, the following items are

required: agate mortar and pestle, percolator and sintered glass funnel, 20-mL airtight plastic

bottle, 100-mL beaker, sand bath, Mattler balance. In addition, sodium sulfate (Na2SO4),

carbon tetrachloride (CCl4), and crushed glass powder are needed for chemical treatment.

Procedure. To begin with, 0.3 g of Jatropha seed powder, 2 g of glass powder, and

2 g of Na2SO4 were put into a mortar. The mixture was ground to a fine size. Then, 10 mL of

CCl4 was added into the mortar to make a solution of 20 mL. The solution, contained in a

vial, was shaken overnight in a shaker and then filtered with a sintered glass funnel with a

percolator. The filtrates (oil + CCl4) were collected in a preweighed beaker with two glass

balls. The beaker was then placed on a sand bath to allow for the evaporation of CCl4 at

60–70� C. The oil contained in the beaker was kept in a desiccator for cooling. Finally, the

beaker with the oil and glass ball was weighed to compute the weight of the oil (Figure 3a).

Calculation of oil content. The percentage of oil content for a specific sample

can be assessed based on the following formula:

% of oil ¼ ðw2 � w1Þ · 100

w; (2)

where w is the weight of sample (g), w1 is the weight of the beaker (g),

w2 is the weight of the beaker with oil (g), and the weight of oil is (w2-w1) in g

Mechanical Extraction of Jatropha Seed

An electric oil expeller, manufactured in a traditional manner, was used to extract

Jatropha oil (Figure 3b). This expeller has been used to produce oils from mustard,

sunflowers, and nuts. In this study, Jatropha seeds were poured into the expeller through

a hopper. The expeller has a rotating screw inside a horizontal cylinder that is capped at one

end. As the screw forces the seeds through the cylinder, the pressure is raised gradually. The

last screw is set to place the face in the opposite direction from the rest of the screws. Due to

the creation of this opposing pressure, oils are extracted from the seeds. The oil then

escapes from the cylinder through small holes, whereas the pressed cake emerges from

the end of the cylinder.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Plant Growth

Like most perennial plants, Jatropha displays vigorous growth in youth that tails off

gradually toward maturity. Plant height is one of the key parameters for the estimation of

the fruit’s yield rate. The plant heights were measured at 30-day intervals. The average

height is shown in the bar chart in Figure 4. Growth rate increased fairly rapidly from 60 to

150 days and slowed down from 210 to 300 days. The plant height was normally kept at

150–160 cm for convenient harvesting of the fruits. After 300 days, the average height of

the plants reached around 162 cm.



Crop Density

The average structure of a Jatropha plant is shown in Figure 5. The average branch

number of the plants was approximately 21. The maximum perimeter of the plants was seen

at a height of 90 cm from the ground. If the shape of the plants is considered as an ellipse

rotated around its major axis, the average diameter at 90 cm height was 89 cm. If the length

of the plot is 10 m with 5 m width, then the total number of plant accommodated in a row is

(a)

(b)

Figure 3 Apparatuses: (a) old percolation apparatus used for measuring the percentage of oil content in Jatropha

seeds; and (b) electric oil expeller used for Jatropha oil extraction.

386 KABIR ET AL.


10 m 7 0.895 m < 11, and the number of rows will be 5 m 7 0.894 m < 5.5. Hence, in a

10 m · 5 m plot, the number of Jatropha that can be planted is 11 · 5.5 < 60. According to

this, approximately 12,000 plants can be grown on one hectare of land. If intercropping is

done, then a minimum distance of 2 m can be maintained between each plant. Based on this

approximation, 2500 plants can be accommodated in one hectare.

Number of Flowers and Fruits per Plant

The Jatropha flowers blossomed after 5 months. The average number of male and

female flowers calculated from 10 plants was 714 and 40, respectively, during the first

harvest (Table 1). The ratio of male to female flowers (M/F) was almost 18. Flowers grew

120

cm

90 c

m

60 c

m

70.06 cm

71.44 cm

Surface

89.44 cm

Figure 5 Average Jatropha plant structure for harvesting.

0

20

40

60

80

100

120

140

160

180

30 60 90 120 150 180 210 240 270 300

Days after plantation

Plant height(cm)

Figure 4 Average plant growth patterns of Jatropha in terms of plant height and time (days).



again 5 months after the first harvest in August. During the second harvest, the average

number of male and female flowers for each plant were 1619 and 96. The M/F ratio of the

second harvest was 17 (Table 1). As the yield of fruit depends on the number of female

flowers, an increase in the number of female flowers implies higher fruit yields. As shown

in Table 1, the average number of fruit collected from each plant was 34.3 in the first

harvest and 82.4 during the second harvest. Hence, the number of female flowers increased

137% during the second flowering.

Physical Characteristics of Jatropha Seed

The oval shape of the Jatropha seed is flat on one surface and round on the opposite.

It has a fissured testa that has a blackish color. The maximum diameter of the seed was

approximately 10–17 mm long with an average seed weight of 0.76 g (Table 2).

Yields per Plant

To withstand extreme drought conditions, the Jatropha plant sheds leaves and

conserves moisture; however, this can lead to reduced growth. Although Jatropha grows

in soils with low fertility and alkalinity, the yield in poor-quality soils can be improved

greatly with the addition of fertilizers containing nutrients, viz. calcium, magnesium, and

sulfur. The plant has an average life with an effective yield of up to 50 years, although it

produces at full capacity from the third year on (Joachim 1996). Considering the average

weight of the seed was 0.76 g (Table 2), the total seed weight of each individual plant was

calculated for both the first and second harvests (Table 2). The total seed weight increased

around 144% from the first to the second harvest.

Estimated Seed Yield per Hectare

The maximum number of Jatropha that can be planted per hectare is 2500 with a 2-m

distance between plants. Assuming a 90% survival rate, almost 2250 plants can be

Table 1 Number of male and female flowers and fruits per plant for each harvesting period.

Plant no During first flowering During second flowering

Male

flowers X1¢Female

flowers X2¢Ratio

X1¢/ X2¢Fruits per

plant

Male

flowers X1†Female

flowers X2†Ratio

X1†/ X2†Fruits per

plant

1 561 32 17.5 25 1254 77 16.3 70

2 627 30 20.9 26 1342 83 16.2 66

3 616 35 17.6 25 1265 82 15.4 75

4 726 45 16.1 36 1958 115 17.0 101

5 638 33 19.3 30 1474 87 16.9 70

6 968 62 15.6 55 2354 147 16.0 126

7 803 45 17.8 35 2035 110 18.5 95

8 891 55 16.2 50 1848 97 19.1 81

9 660 32 20.6 31 1441 85 16.9 75

10 649 35 18.5 30 1221 73 16.7 65

Average 714 40.4 17.7 34.3 1619 95.6 16.9 82.4

388 KABIR ET AL.


established on one hectare of land. Thus, the estimated seed yield per hectare during the first

and the second harvest would be 2250 · 0.0654 kg = 147 kg and 2250 · 0.1593 kg = 358 kg,

respectively.

Estimated Biodiesel Production per HectareOil extraction by chemical method. The oil content of Jatropha seeds was

measured by the cold percolation method. The average oil content for Jatropha seeds was

36.3% (363.4 g per kg of seed), which yields a seed cake proportion of 63.7% (Table 3). The

estimated biodiesel production per hectare was 147 kg · 0.363.4 kg = 53 kg (first harvest)

and 358 kg · 0.363.4 kg = 130 kg (second harvest).

Oil extraction by mechanical method. By using a traditional oil expeller

commonly used for mustard oil extraction, the average Jatropha oil extraction was

Table 3 The relative proportion of oil produced from Jatropha seed.

Order Weight (g) Percentage (%)

Sample

(w)

Beaker+GBa

(w1)

w1 + oil

(w2)

oil

(w3 = w2 - w1)

Seed cake

(w - w3)

Oil Seed

1 0.32 40.9 41.0 0.13 0.20 37.7 62.3

2 0.36 49.3 49.5 0.12 0.23 35.6 64.4

3 0.35 40.6 40.7 0.13 0.23 35.3 64.7

4 0.33 30.0 30.1 0.13 0.21 36.8 63.2

Average 0.34 40.2 40.3 0.13 0.22 36.3 63.7

aGlass ball

Table 2 Physical characteristics of Jatropha seed and harvesting patterns.

Plant no. Seed First flowering Second flowering

Diametera Lengtha Weightb Fruits Seeds Total seed weight

per plantbFruits Seeds Total seed weight

per plantb

1 10 18.5 0.88 25 62 47.1 70 181 138

2 9.5 16.7 0.72 26 64 48.6 66 172 131

3 9.3 17.4 0.78 25 61 46.4 75 190 144

4 9.5 18.5 0.90 36 90 68.4 101 259 197

5 9.3 16.5 0.73 30 74 56.2 70 180 137

6 10.2 15.6 0.66 55 140 106 126 311 237

7 9.5 17.5 0.82 35 89 67.6 95 242 184

8 9.7 17.3 0.77 50 128 97.3 81 206 157

9 9.3 16 0.61 31 77 58.5 75 188 143

10 9.5 16.5 0.74 30 76 57.8 65 168 128

Average 9.58 17.1 0.76 34.3 86.1 65.4 82.4 210 159

SD 0.39 0.97 0.09 10.4 27.3 20.8 19.4 46.5 35.4

CV (%)c 3.56 5.71 11.9 30.2 31.7 31.7 23.6 22.2 22.2

aUnit for diameter and length = mmbUnit for weight = gcCoefficient of Variation



estimated at 25% (leaving 75% seed cake). The percentage of oil extraction can be

improved if the expeller can be modified for Jatropha. The estimated biodiesel production

per hectare was 147 kg · 0.25 kg = 36.75 kg (first harvest) and 358 kg · 0.25 kg = 89.5 kg

(second harvest).

CONCLUSIONS

Production of biofuel from plant materials is a major step toward harnessing one of

the world’s most prevalent yet least utilized renewable energy resources. A breakthrough

process for converting plant oil into biodiesel fuel is an economic way to pursue a green

environment, as most ecologists have long been dreaming of a way to mitigate global

warming. In this effort to find alternative fuel resources, Jatropha curcas has a great deal of

potential. It can be propagated as either generative or vegetative. Plant survival and growth

rate are higher for direct planting than for direct seeding. Although the plant can grow 3 to

4 m, the collection of fruits and seeds can be optimized at 1.5 m. The seed cake can be used

as animal feed. In addition, various parts of the plant have medicinal value. For instance, its

bark contains tannin, while the flowers can attract bees for honey production. The seeds of

Jatropha contain viscous oil that can be used for manufacturing candles and soap. The

production of Jatropha for biodiesel can provide employment, improve the environment,

and enhance the quality of rural life. Although finding land for Jatropha cultivation is not

necessarily easy, a good crop of Jatropha can be obtained with little effort. Jatropha can be

planted on various types of infertile soils such as alongside canals, water streams, roads,

and railway line boundaries of crop fields, as well as hilly areas. Jatropha cultivation is one

effective way to help overcome the oil-shortage crisis.

ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

The corresponding author acknowledges partial support of the Korea Research Foundation grant

(KRF 2006-344-C00026).

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