Potential of Jatropha curcas L. as a

Non-Edible Feedstock of Biodiesel Fuel

Tatang H. SoerawidjajaHead, Center for Research on Sustainable Energy, Institut Teknologi

Bandung, Jl. Ganesha no. 10, Bandung 40132, Indonesia

7th Biomass-Asia WorkshopBPPT 2nd Bulding, Jakarta, Indonesia, 29th Nov. – 1st Dec. 2010

Introduction

• Biodiesel :

[basic notion] diesel engine fuel made from bioresources.

[1st generation] diesel engine fuel composed of fatty acids

methyl esters (FAME).

• Current raw materials :

Soybean oil (USA).

Rapeseed oil (Europe).

Palm and coconut oils (South East Asia).

Tallow and lard (Australia and New Zealand).

Edible raw materials!.

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Various parts (i.e. flowers, fruits and seeds) of the tree Jatropha curcas L.

• Physic nut (Jatropha curcas L) is undoubtedly

the most popular oil-yielding tree identified as

a potential source of non-edible raw material

for biodiesel.

• The initial, and rather euphoric, popularity of Jatropha

curcas stems from the widespread general knowledge that

it is a non-edible oil-yielding tree well adapted to

marginal areas with poor soil and low rainfall, where it

grows without competing with annual food crops, thus

filling an ecological niche.

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Basic information on Jatropha curcas L

• Small tree, reach a height of 2 to 7 meter,.

• Planting method : seedling, stem cutting (more usual).

• Start to yield fruits at 4 – 6 months old and can live up to

30 years or more. Each fruit contains 2 or 3 seeds.

• Seeds : black, elipsoidal,13 – 19 mm long, 10 mm thick,

0.5 – 1.0 g/seed, 35–48% shell and 52–65% kernel.

• The fatty oil is contained in the kernel; average oil

content: 52 % of kernel or 33 % of whole seed.

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• Many claims stated that Jatropha curcas has a potential

annual productivity of 12 ton/ha seeds (or 4 ton/ha oil).

Field data [Heller (1996)] indicated yield of only up to 4

ton/ha seeds or up to 1.3 ton/ha/yr oil.

Compare : 3.5 – 4.5 ton/ha/yr for oilpalm, 2 – 2.2 ton/ha/

yr for coconut, 1 – 1.5 ton/ha/yr for rapeseed, and ½

ton/ha/yr for soybean [but rapeseed and soybean meals

have economic value!].

Need R & D to increase productivity etc!.

• The Pakuwon Jatropha Nursery and Experimental

Plantation, located between Bogor and Sukabumi in West

Java, Indonesia, and operated by Indonesian Center for

Estate-crops Research and Development (ICERD) is

carrying out R&D activities to increase productivity, ease

of harvesting, etc.5

The Pakuwon Jatropha Nursery

• Established in 2005; initially collected 9 Jatropha breeds

from all over Indonesia and planted in a 50 ha area.

• 2005 : 25-30 capsules/shrub (C/S) or a first year yield of

0.3-0.4 ton/ha seeds.

• 2006 : First Improved Population (IP-1), > 200 C/S, 0.9-

1.0 ton/ha (1st year) or 4 – 5 ton/ha/yr (4th year and a.w.).

• 2007 : IP-2, > 400 C/S, 1.9-2.2 ton/ha (1st year) or 6 – 8

ton/ha/yr (4th year and afterward).

• 2009 : IP-3, 8 – 9 ton/ha/yr seeds (4th year and a.w.).

• Other activities : developing Jatropha breed with

simultaneously maturing fruits for efficient harvesting,

genetic, pest , and disease controls, certification of

distributed seed and inter-crop selection.6

Intrinsic characteristics of crude Jatropha curcas oil (CJCO)

Specific gravity (15/15 oC) : 0.918 – 0.923.

Saponification value, (mg-KOH)/g : 188 – 197

Iodine value, (g-I2)/(100 g) : 93 – 107

Unsaponifiable matter content, % : 0.4 – 1.1

• CJCO, which typically contains 1.45% phospholipids

290 ppm (mg/kg) phosphorus. Must be degummed!.

(otherwise will cause phosphate deposit).

• Many investigators reported CJCO with very high acid

values (sometimes > 100 mg-KOH/g) . Not intrinsic

character of CJCO but resulted from poor post-harvest

management of the seeds!.7

• Soon after harvesting, the seeds should be dried until the

moisture content is less than 10 % (to remove water) by

sun drying or, if possible, via dry-cooking ( 100 oC) to

also deactivate/kill oil-hydrolyzing enzimes. Keep the

seeds dry afterward!. Don’t place bags of seeds on wet

floor/ground and protect them from rain!.

• Proper seed management would lead to CJCO of

satisfactory quality; acid value less than 1 mg-KOH/g.

• High acid oils lead to either high processing cost or high

processing loss; such CJCO would be low-priced.

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Fatty acids composition of Jatropha curcas oil (%-weight)

Fatty acid Eckey (1954) Gubitz et.al. (1999)

Myristic, C14:0 0 – 0.5 0 – 0.1

Palmitic, C16:0 12 – 17 14.1 – 15.3

Stearic, C18:0 5 – 7 3.7 – 9.8

Arachidic, C20:0 0 – 0.3 0 – 0.3

Behenic, C22:0 - 0 – 0.2

Palmitoleic, C16:1 - 0 – 1.3

Oleic, C18:1 37 – 63 34.3 – 45.8

Linoleic, C18:2 19 – 40 29.0 – 44.2

Linolenic, C18:3 - 0 – 0.3

• Oleic-linoleic oil!. Usual method of biodiesel preparation should be applicable!.

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Precautions due to the presence of phorbol esters

• Phorbol esters are diterpenoid

derivatives having two hydroxyl

groups on neighbouring carbon atoms

are esterified to fatty acids.

• Contained in Jatropha curcas seed

and the oil obtained from it. Content

in oil is up to 1.6 % [Ahmed and

Salimon (2009)] .

• Toxic and carcinogenic when

consumed by human or animal.

Some special precautions need to be

exercised during the processing of

Jatropha curcas seeds and oils.10

• Makkar et.al. (2009) : During degumming, some phorbol esters were

removed into the acid gums and wash water. The acid gums could not be used for animal feed!. Care should be taken when disposing the wash water

(from degumming as well as transesterification) into the environment.

Stripping/deodorization of Jatropha oil at 260 oC and 3 mbar pressure with 1% steam injection completely degraded phorbol esters . Toxic degradation products should not be ruled out!.

• The toxicity of phorbol esters has also prohibited the use of Jatropha seed meals could not as animal feed.

• Deotoxification researches are being carried out but not much progress has been reported so far.

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Needs to enhance the competitiveness of Jatropha curcas

• According to Azam, Waris, and Nahar [Biomass and

Bioenergy 29, 293 - 302 (2005)], the order of potential

productivity of non edible oil plants are : Pongamia

pinnata, 5499 kg/ha/yr; Calophyllum inophyllum, 4680;

Azadirachta indica, 2670; Jatropha curcas, 2500.

• Pongamia pinnata : fast-growing firewood crops ( for

2nd generation biofuels), nitrogen-fixing tree, can stand

salty/sea water, seed contains oil and bioactive chemicals.

• Calophyllum inophyllum : can stand salty/sea water,

good for coastal area conservation (wind-break, etc), seed

contains, in addition to fatty oil, resinous 4-phenyl

coumarin derivatives having potential for medicine as

well as (through cracking process) biogasoline. 12

• Azadirachta indica : fast-growing firewood crops ( for

2nd generation biofuels), nitrogen-fixing tree, can stand

salty/sea water, seed contains oil and bioactive chemicals.

• There exist need to develop other value-added products

from Jatropha curcas !. Otherwise, it will be losing

competition against the above multipurpose energy crops.

• Possibilities e.g. :

animal feed from detoxified meal;

bioactive chemicals (from bark exudate/latex) for

medicine, insecticide, or pesticide.

Also need researches!.

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THANK YOU VERY MUCH

for your attention

tatanghs@che.itb.ac.id hstatang@ yahoo.com