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It would appear that many people have developed the mistaken expectation that Jatropha Curcas will and can grow on very marginal soils and in low-rainfall areas. Whereas th eplant may ‘grow’ in these circumatnces, like any ther agricultural crop, better soil and adequate water are needed if there is an expectation of commercially viable yields.

In formation tah I p[rovided earflier was extracted formn techniocal reports form trial plantations showing that commercial yields had been achieved of around 4.5kg of seed per tree yieldsing about 35% oil form the seed or about 1,0Kg of oil extracted per tree after three years of growth.

Based upon a planting denisty of only 1100 trees per Ha, this would then translate into a little more than 1 metric tonne of oil per Ha/ year only.

Further reports then show that as the trees mature and when adequate water and plant-feeding is applied, yields may then increase but the yields would not be achieved if the plant was under-managed.

The expectation (in some quarters) that the Jatropha Tree is a magical and proliferant producer on marginal soils is therefore a myth.

Obviously the commercialisation of the Jatropha Curcas
tree is in need of further advancement and theer are companies already engaged in that process, sleecting the plants for better yeilds adn other preferred traits. D1 Oils (UK) and in the Netherlands seems to have davanced significantly in this direction.

With regard to the production fo other oils-seed crops such as Safflower/ Canola/ Soya etc it must be considered that unlike Jatropha, these crops all require very significant annual inputs for the replanting of the crop and for the land preparation energy costs that must be offset against the amount of usable oil that can be extracted per Hectare; this is why the Jatropha Tree is receueving such focussed attention, because the planting is done once and the tree has a life expectancy of more than 50 years!

Long-term production costs vs Yields are therefore expected to achieve commercially viable status. Now that the residual oil-presse-cake can also be processed and made palatable for animal feed use (and has a higher protein value than Soya!), great expectations are now on the horizon for Jatropha!

http://tinyurl.com/q5nooa

LINK: http://tinyurl.com/q665qb

Trust this will shed some light on
your work with Jatropha.

LINK: http://tinyurl.com/q665qb

It seems even D1 oil is not getting the oil yields that earlier reports have reported. If this report is factual, then Jatropha has a lengthy road to follow before large amounts of oil are realize. Please comment on this article.

http://tinyurl.com/ofpsvl

Trust this will help you.

@ ian: You can use Hexane has a solvent to increase yield but there are strong claims that Hexane releases more green house gases in the atmosphere and therefore not accepted in some countries. I also know that other solvents still exist but Hexane being the most popular.

Does anyone have any take on cross cultivating Jatropha with non-edible safflower? Had a conversation with an R&D company in india and they think the would be a better way to go for investors as safflower produces mature seeds btw 120-160days and refining can start right away instead of waiting on the Jatropha for a year or two!

At a planting density of 1000/Ha (3m x3m spacing but allowing some rows to be vacant,for in-field servicing/access) and conservative yield of 4.5 Kg/ Ha = 4500kg/Ha and at 35% oil extrtaction,, perhaps 1500kg of raw oil/Ha or about 1670litres/Ha (Matured trees from year 3 onwards?).