Jatropha May Fill World's Fuel Tanks With Bio Fuel, page 1

posted on May, 8 2007 @ 02:36 PM

link

Not sure if this has been posted yet, but this may be a long term solution for wastelands and the need for biofuel.

Has anyone else heard of this?

New Hope for BioFuel from a Weed

From China to Brazil, countries have begun setting aside tens of thousands of acres for the cultivation of jatropha – a plant many experts say is the most promising source for biodiesel. At the same time, companies from Europe and India have begun buying up land throughout Africa to establish jatropha plantations.

As American farmers plan to plant the most corn since World War II to cash in on ethanol, which is added to gasoline, much of the rest of the world is turning to jatropha, which is used as a substitute for diesel fuel.

The two are not competitors, since neither can be used in the other type of fuel. But jatropha is fast emerging as a candidate for the ideal biofuel. It is grown in wastelands, needs relatively little care or refinement, and is inedible – meaning it will not take food from the poor for the gas tanks of the rich.

Please visit the link provided for the complete story.

[edit on 8-5-2007 by Realtruth]

lombozo

posted on May, 8 2007 @ 02:57 PM

link

That's pretty interesting. Nice find. I'd never even heard of jatropha before. From the little snippet I read, it really does sound as close to perfect as it gets. Like you, I like the fact that it's not taking food away from anyone.

Mirthful Me

posted on May, 8 2007 @ 03:14 PM

link

I'm a fan already...

Currently the oil from Jatropha curcas seeds can be used for making biodiesel fuel in India, and is being promoted as an easily grown biofuel crop in hundreds of projects throughout India and the third world [1]. The rail line between Mumbai and Delhi is planted with Jatropha and the train itself runs on 15-20% biodiesel.

The plant can grow in wastelands, and it yields more than four times as much fuel per hectare as soybean, and more than ten times that of corn. A hectare of jatropha produces 1,892 liters of fuel. Also Jatropha is a one-stage conversion to biodiesel

en.wikipedia.org...

High yields, and easy conversion (heck, even converting WVO isn't that hard) make this most promising indeed.

I'm sure the naysayers will chime in with all that is wrong with it, but I'll use it.

CosmicScorpion

posted on May, 8 2007 @ 05:05 PM

link

Nice find and quite interesting. More news:

* The Government of India has identified 400,000 square kilometres of land where Jatropha can be grown, hoping it will replace 20% of India's diesel consumption by 2011.
* The Indian Railways has started to use the oil (blended with diesel fuel in various ratios) from the Jatropha plant to power its diesel engines with great success.
* Andra Pradesh has entered into a formal agreement with Reliance Industries, India's largest private sector company, which has selected 200 acres of land at Kakinada to grow jatropha for high quality bio-diesel fuel.
* Chhatisgarh has decided to plant 160 million saplings of jatropha in all its 16 districts during 2006 with the aim of becoming a bio-fuel self-reliant state by 2015.
* In May 2005, Chief Minister Raman Singh became the first head of a state government to use jatropha diesel for his official vehicle.
* Chhattisgarh plans to replace with jatropha fuel all state-owned vehicles using diesel and petrol by 2007.
* The government of Tamilnadu has abolished purchase tax on Jatropha to promote the plantation of Jatropha to help farmers over come the loss due to irregular rains during the past few years.
* In September 2006, the Hindustan Petroleum Corporation Limited (HPCL) joined hands with the Maharashtra State Farming Corporation Ltd (MSFCL) for a jatropha seed-based bio-diesel venture.

Jatropha incentives in India

Anyone has any idea/article on how it is helpful in pollution control (though it is biodisel and hence safe, biodegradable and reduces air pollutants)?

Tom Bedlam

posted on May, 8 2007 @ 05:25 PM

link

"Jatropha" isn't another name for "kudzu" is it?

It would be nice to find out there's some use for that plant.

This sounds promising. I'm also pretty interested in algae that convert to nearly 40% fuel oil. www.oilgae.com...