Jatropha curcas – an undemanding plant for biodiesel production
Nut-oil to biodiesel
Jatropha curcas is an
undemanding plant n the last two years, the oleaginous save on costly mineral oil imports and
I plant Jatropha curcas has become a develop rural regions?
which grows in veritable media star around the world.
Also known as physic nut, the plant even Hope for farmers with
subtropical and merited a feature in the Germany’s lead-
degraded land
tropical regions around ing daily newspaper Frankfurter Allge-
meine Zeitung. Another name is often
the globe, even in the mentioned in the same breath as jat- The farmers from Chorvadla in the dry
ropha: that of Chorvadla, a small Indian state of Gujarat are sorely in need of a
poorest soils – so its village in Gujarat State – a place that few drought-tolerant fuel crop. «There is little
production does not people in the world would ever have we can do with this barren land,» says vil-
heard of, bar its own inhabitants. lage elder Vallhaba Bhai, pointing to the
compete with food The reason for the sudden popularity of parched steppe surrounding the planta-
this out-of-the-way location is a trial plan- tion. «In future, maybe we will actually be
crops. The highly
tation around ten hectares in size. It is able to use the land.» The village has
oleaginous nuts can be planted with long rows of mainly young around 500 hectares of wasteland which
jatropha bushes; the green of their foliage would be suitable for jatropha production.
used for the production is in striking contrast to the parched sur- Even in the monsoon season, there is little
of motor and heating roundings. The bushes bear fruit the size rainfall in this part of Gujarat. To the north
of a walnut. The fruit contain three black of the state lie the deserts of Rajasthan.
fuel. What are the seeds which have an oil content of around But even many parts of Gujarat are domi-
60 percent. Therein lie the hopes of many nated by acute water scarcity. The river
prospects for rural small farmers all over the world. For the beds run dry for most of the year. Recent-
regions if this oil plant, very oleaginous kernels can be used to ly the state has gained a new supply of
make both biodiesel and vegetable oil, to water from the controversial Narmada
which has only ever be used as motor and heating fuel. The dams, transported through a complex
plant flourishes on the most meagre of channel and pipeline system. This allows
grown in the wild, can soils, and needs little water to survive (see the farmers of Chorvadla to grow sesame,
be brought into box on page 39). millet and cotton on their better land –
but only with the aid of irrigation.
cultivation? Ten men from the village work on the tri-
Indian-German cooperation in
al plantation. This helps to spread the
the bioenergy sector word about jatropha among the villagers.
In addition, the CSMCRI runs information
The test plantation in Gujarat is part of a events in the village to generate interest
public-private partnership (PPP) project in the new crop. For what is the use of the
between Daimler Chrysler, the University best research findings on the usefulness
of Hohenheim, the German Investment of physic nut as a biofuel without a supply
and Development Company (DEG) and of the raw material itself?
the Central Salt and Marine Chemicals
Research Institute (CSMCRI). The project is
First step: Study the wild plant
receiving some EUR 500,000 in funding
from DEG, while Daimler Chrysler is sup-
Foto: agenda/Böthling
porting the research to the tune of Before thousands of small farmers invest
approximately EUR 1.3 million, including money and labour into jatropha planta-
supplying some of its C-class models as tions, well-founded research is needed
test vehicles. The models manufactured in into this plant, which is otherwise only
its Indian plant in Pune (Maharashtra known as a wild plant. «A crop plant like
State) run on jatropha-based biodiesel, maize, for example, has been selected and
and have already completed a highly-pub- improved by breeders over many cen-
Klaus Sieg licized 10,000 kilometres road trip across turies,» explains Professor Klaus Becker of
agenda – Photographers & Journalists India. the University of Hohenheim. «Jatropha
Hamburg, Germany Can the cultivation and economic use of has great potential, but so far little or no
sieg@agenda-fototext.de jatropha help to lower CO2 emissions, breeding work has been done.» Professor
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agriculture & rural development 2/2007

Producing their own
supply of biodiesel
derived from Jatropha
oil gives farmers great
cost savings.
Bioenergy
Foto: agenda/Böthling
whether this characteristic will change in
Becker has been working on jatropha for «Our aim is to optimize the yields of jat-
the context of large-scale production.
fifteen years. ropha,» reports Junabhai Sambhubhai
Four years ago the University of Hohen- Patolia of CSMCRI. «In order to keep yields
heim in Germany approached Daimler up, we have to irrigate during the four-
Propagation is a sticking point
Chrysler about its project in India. The month dry season at a rate of about 100
involvement of the Stuttgart-based cor- litres per plant,» explains the scientist.
poration has not only brought the project One major problem is that of propagating During the establishment phase, it is also
financial and logistical support but also, from the selected elite plants, which are necessary to weed the plantation and the
above all, international attention. Even so, currently being studied on the plantation farmers have to prune the plants. Harvest-
Klaus Becker warns against premature to establish their agronomic parameters. ing is done by hand.
euphoria: «As yet, we do not have stand- The offspring need to be genetically iden- All parts of the plant are poisonous and
ardized seed stock, predictable yields, or tical. So far that can only be achieved by are never grazed upon by goats or cows.
research-based production methods – but using cuttings and transplants. But The plantations can therefore be left
nowhere is all this being studied more because a cutting needs to be at least 30 unfenced – a crucial advantage in poor
intensively than right now in Gujarat.» In centimetres in size, only a limited number regions. Nevertheless, the scientists calcu-
partnering with the CSMCRI, the Universi- of cuttings can be obtained from one par- late an initial investment equivalent to
ty of Hohenheim has successfully attract- ent plant. EUR 250 per hectare. That is a substantial
ed one of the most expert research insti- Propagation from seed may result in alter- sum for a small-scale Indian farmer. The
tutes in India. The recultivation of degrad- ation of the genetic material. One possi- plant only gives economically viable yields
ed and salinized soils happens to be one ble means of propagating genetically after five years – but then remains pro-
of its research priorities. identical jatropha plants on a large scale ductive for more than thirty years. After
In the past year, CSMCRI has collected may be tissue culture. So far, however, all that, it is time to replant.
numerous wild species of the jatropha attempts at this have failed, to Professor On the soils around Chorvadla, the scien-
plant, from which it has selected a num- Becker’s regret. Although as a scientist he tists aim to achieve yields of around two
ber of «elite cultivars». These cultivars believes that propagation by tissue cul- tonnes of fruits per hectare, once the dif-
produce three or four times the yields of ture is the right approach, he warns ferent cultivars and cultivation methods
the wild plants used hitherto. Trials with against undue euphoria at this stage: have been researched. This could be made
the elite cultivars, which have been plant- «Currently hundreds of thousands of into about 500 litres of biodiesel. At the
ed on the test site near Chorvadla as well hectares of jatropha crops are being filling station, the current price of a litre of
as another plantation in Orissa State, aim developed, all using plants which have diesel is around 35-40 rupees, which con-
to find out how much water the plant been propagated from seed; nobody yet verts into about 70 cents in Euro. Any
requires to thrive in the first phase of knows how these plantations will turn farmer who was self-sufficient in fuel
growth, how much water and fertilizer it out.» derived from jatropha oil would stand to
needs to produce optimum yields, and Jatropha also grows on rocky soils with gain up to 20,000 rupees per hectare,
how much space it requires for optimum only a thin layer of humus. The plant can equivalent to EUR 350. This is the amount
growth. Another question is whether jat- survive in these conditions even without a farmer could save if he did not have to
ropha will remain resistant to pests or fertilizers or artificial irrigation. buy diesel for his vehicles.
38 agriculture & rural development 2/2007

degradation are most likely to affect small
In order to manufacture biodiesel, an oil interest has been reawakened by the
farms, which are often on low-quality soil,
mill if not a proper biodiesel plant is explosion in mineral oil prices.
and some of which have already lost up to
required. These usually expensive facili- In July 2006, the subcontinent’s first com-
one-third of their arable land.
ties are generally operated by coopera- mercial plant to produce biodiesel from
India’s economy is prospering. In 2005 it
tives. The processed fuel could be sold on jatropha went into operation. Partners of
grew by 8 percent, and experts expect
the local market, but in that case, the this PPP project, initiated by GTZ near
similar growth for 2006. The country has a
additional costs of transportation and Hyderabad in Andhra Pradesh State, are
productive industrial sector and large
middlemen also have to be taken into the leading German plant engineering
numbers of highly skilled workers. Never-
account. An alternative option is to mar- firm, Lurgi AG and the Indian partner
theless, a quarter of India’s 1.2 billion
ket the nut unprocessed, which would Chemical Construction International. An
inhabitants have to survive on less than
generate the equivalent of EUR 250 per Indian company, Southern Online Bio
one dollar per day. India’s population of
hectare, according to the scientists’ esti- Technologies Ltd. is operating the plant
working age numbers 400 million, of
mates. with a capacity of 10,000 tonnes of bio-
which 36 million are unemployed. Many fuel per year. A bus company from Hyder-
of the poor live in rural areas. Almost 60 abad will purchase its entire output.
Utilizing by-products
percent of Indians work in agriculture, a Other public bus operators and Indian
sector which does generate as much as a Railways are also said to be showing great
quarter of gross national product. Rural
«In order to optimize the economic bene- interest. The operator of the biodiesel
development is therefore a central chal-
fits to the farmers, we must find a use for plant has arranged contracts with farmers
lenge for the Indian government. Jatropha
the whole of the plant,» says Pushpito from around sixty villages in the sur-
is expected to play an important role, at
Ghosh, director of CSMCRI in Bhavnaghar. rounding area, to promote the systematic
least if one believes the government’s
Besides the production of biodiesel, the cultivation of jatropha as well as
declarations.
team of scientists and engineers is con- Pongamia pinnata, a native oil tree.
ducting research into other uses of the by- Already there is surplus demand for the
products. The oil cake left after pressing nut of the jatropha bush. So far, the
GTZ programme to promote
the fruits can be made into livestock feed. majority of projects have been supplied
jatropha in India
The one prerequisite is to neutralize the with nuts from wild plants, since commer-
highly toxic phorbol ester which the plant cial plantations do not yet exist. The price
contains. Another promising fuel project involving of wild fruits has rocketed: originally 3
The transesterification of the plant oil jatropha is being supported in India by rupees, it has now risen to over 20 rupees
into biodiesel produces a large quantity of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Technische per kilogram.
glycerine. The institute uses this to make Zusammenarbeit (GTZ – German Techni- Furthermore, assistance in the form of
products such as soap, but is also experi- cal Cooperation). Twenty years ago, the microfinancing programmes will encour-
menting with the use of bacteria to oleaginous physic nut gained considera- age the establishment of small, local oil
obtain biopolymers from the gelatinous ble attention; back then, the project was mills. This will create new, sustainable
mass. These could be used in the manu- not pursued further, probably because the sources of income in the rural areas
facturing of car seats, for instance. time was not yet ripe for biofuels. Now around Hyderabad.
In the year 2005, the in-house pilot plant
produced around 8,000 litres of biodiesel
which complied with the European DIN
Jatropha curcas: The undemanding oil supplier
14214 standard. CO2 emissions are compa-
rable to those from oilseed rape biodiesel. The Jatropha plant is a shrub belonging to the spurge family and originates from
The pilot plant is capable of producing Central and South America. Today it grows in subtropical and tropical regions around
250 litres per day and costs around EUR the globe. The evergreen shrub thrives in a very dry climate with only 250 millimetres
30,000. A similar plant could equally well of rainfall per year, but also grows in regions where annual rainfall is anything up to
be operated by a farmers’ cooperative. So 2,500 millimetres. The plant develops best with rainfall of around 900 to 1,200 mil-
far, however, interest in the jatropha limetres. The jatropha bush has
research work at the institute in Bhavna- thick roots which help it to uti-
gar has come mainly from industry – from lize water very efficiently. In
corporations such as BP and the Indian times of persistent drought, it
conglomerate Reliance. sheds its leaves so as to reduce
In Gujarat, there are no concrete plans as transpiration.
yet for the commercial production of Hedges made with jatropha
biodiesel from Jatropha. Nevertheless, the bushes can protect the soil from
Indian market for diesel is huge. India has wind erosion. The roots are
to import the bulk of its petroleum and dense and close to the surface,
pay dearly for it. In 2005, diesel consump- which also mitigates water ero-
Photo: agenda/Böthling
tion ran to 40 million tonnes. Consump- sion. The jatropha plant grows
tion for 2006 is expected to be 52 million even on nutrient-poor, stony
tonnes. Even the addition of 5 percent of soils. Therefore its cultivation
biodiesel would equate to a demand for does not compete with food
2.5 million tonnes, making it a worthwhile production. On the contrary, by
market for the exploration of alternatives. planting jatropha it is possible to improve degraded soils so that food can be grown
There is an abundance of land on which again. The shedding of leaves on jatropha plantations begins to rebuild the humus
the undemanding fuel plant can be layer.
grown: India has over 170 million hectares All parts of the plant are toxic. For generations, farmers have used jatropha hedges
of wasteland. Climate change, erosion and to protect fields and gardens from game damage caused by roaming animals. Plan-
tations of physic nut bushes do not therefore need to be fenced in, which saves effort
and expense.
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