CULTIVATION AND USE OF JATROPHA FOR BIO-DIESEL PRODUCTION

IN INDIA
DR. M.S.PUNIA,
Executive Director
NATIONAL OILSEEDS AND VEGETABLE OILS DEVELOPMENT BOARD
MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, GOVT OF INDIA
86, SECTOR-18, GURGAON -122015
(HARYANA), INDIA

Background
India is the seventh largest country in the world after Russia, Canada, China,
USA, Brazil and Australia covering geographical area of 328.73 million ha., which
constitutes 2.42 percent of earths surface. India with 109 crore population is the
second most populous nation of the world after China. The climatic contrasts, the
varied landscapes and the widely divergent environmental conditions of India account
for the magnificence of its flora and fauna. It ranks sixth in the world in terms of
energy demand. Its economy is projected to grow 8-9 percent over the next two
decades and there will be a substantial increase in demand for oil to manage
transportation and to meet various other energy needs. While India has significant
reserves of coal, it is relatively poor in oil and gas resources. Due to stagnating
domestic crude production, India imports approximately 72 percent of its petroleum
requirement.
The annual requirement of petroleum products of the country is approx. 124
MMT. Our domestic production of crude oil and natural gas is approximate 34 million
tones during 2006-07. The huge gap between demand and supply is met only by
import. The net import burden was increased from USD 25.18 billion in 2004-05 to
USD 37.17 billion in 2005-06 and taking into account, the average prices till now,
the net import bill for 2006-07 is around USD 46.9 billion. The increasing trends
show one and half times increase annually and if the present increasing trend is
continued. This is a matter of very serious concern for the country. If the corrective
measures are not taken in time, the Indias maximum revenue will drain out in the
import of petroleum products.
Among various petroleum products, being developed from crude oil, diesel is
being consumed maximum (i.e.80%) for transport of industrial and agricultural goods

and operation of diesel driven tractors and pump sets in agricultural sector. The
depletion of available vital fossil fuel resources and our over commitment to use the
fossil fuels is likely to lead us to the energy crisis situation in the years to come. The
demand for diesel is likely to touch 66 million tonnes in 2011-12 and 80 million tonnes
in 2012-15. Contrary to the demand situation, the domestic supply is in position to
cater to only about 30% of the total demand. Therefore, attempt needs to be made
to reduce dependence on imports and seek better alternatives.
The best alternatives are bio-fuels and the country has a ray of hope for the
same through various sources namely virgin or used vegetable oils, biogas, alcohols,
ethers, esters and other chemicals derived from cellulosic bio-mass such as
herbaceous and woody plants, agricultural and forestry residues, Tree borne oilseeds
like Jatropha, Karanja, Neem, Oil Palm etc.

Among bio-fuels, bio-diesel is gaining

worldwide acceptance as a solution to energy crises. At present, India is using 80 per

cent diesel driven vehicles.

It is possible to blend 20 per cent bio-diesel with

petro-diesel without any modification in the diesel engine. It is estimated that 5%,
10% and 20% blending of bio-diesel will require following quantity of bio-diesel
considering 52.33 MMT demand during 2006-07:-

Year

Diesel
Demand
MMT

Bio-Dies
el @ 5%
MMT

Bio-Diesel @
10% MMT

Bio-Diesel @
20% MMT

2006-07

52.33

2.62

5.23

10.47

2011-12

66.90

3.35

6.69

13.38

2012-15

80.00

4.00

8.00

16.00

As illustrated above, there is urgent need to explore possibility of an

alternative source of bio-diesel. To meet this challenging and horrible situation, our
scientists have got success in identifying Jatropha as best alternative source of
bio-diesel production.

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Jatropha An introducation
Jatropha, a large soft-weeded deciduous shrub, is also known as Ratanjyot,
Jamalgota, Chandrajyot etc. It is a wildly growing hardy plant, in arid and semi-arid
regions of the country on degraded soils having low fertility and moisture. It can
thrives well on stony, gravelly or shallow and even on calcareous soils having soil
depth of about 2 feet.

It can be grown under wide range of arid and semi-arid

climatic conditions but can not with stand heavy frost. Jatropha is not grazed by
animals including goats.and serve as a live bio-fence around fields

It can be

cultivated successfully in the regions having scanty to heavy rainfall with annual
rainfall ranges from 500-1200 mm.
The bushy plant (3-4 metre high) of Jatropha bears numerous side branches
arising from its main stem. The flowers are yellowish green in loose panicles. The
flowering occurs twice in a year i.e in March-April and in September-October. The
ripe fruits are about 2-5 cm. large and ripen fruits are yellow in colour. The seeds
resemble with castor seed in shape either ovoid or oblong and are covered in a dull
brownish black capsule.
The genus Jatropha belonging to Euphorbiaceae family of plant kingdom ,is a
diploid with chromosome number (2n) 22, contains about 175 species in the world. In
India, following 18 species are found scattered in various states of the country.
Jatropha curcas

Jatropha gossypifolia

Jatropha glandulifera

Jatropha heynei

Jatropha integerrima

Jatropha maheshwarii

Jatropha multifida

Jatropha mulendnifera

Jatropha villosa

Jatropha nana

Jatropha podagrica

Jatropha hastata

Jatropha tanjovurensis

Jatropha hastata

Jatropha macrofayala

Jatropha acrocurcas

Jatropha diyoka

Jatropha sinera

Out of above, Jatropha curcas gained prominence because of its added

features like excellent adaptability to various habitats, larger fruits and seeds, high oil
yielding, soil conservation capabilities, thriving well as live fence etc.
USES :

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All parts of the plan exude sticky, bitterly pungent and astringent latex, which
can be used as making ink. The bark contains tanin, wax, resin, saponins etc. that
makes it useful for industrial purposes. The kernel, which forms 60-68% of the
weight of seed contains oil about 46-58% of the kernel weight and 30-40% of seed
weight. The oil is used for illumination without smoke, substitute of diesel, kerosene,
lubricants, soaps and candle manufacturing. It can be used as hair oil and has
application to livestock against sores. As an excellent source of organic manure, it
contains 3.2% nitrogen, 1.4% phosphorus and 1.2% potash.
Jatropha oil as best alternative to diesel
Among various alternative sources, Jatropha is one of the best alternative for
bio-diesel production due to its following characteristics:

It can be grown in areas of low rainfall (500 mm per year) high rainfall,
irrigated areas and problematic soils with much higher yields.

Jatropha is easy to establish, grows relatively quickly and is hardy.

Jatropha lends itself to plantation with advantage on lands developed

on watershed basis, on low fertility marginal, degraded, fallow, waste
and other lands such as along the canals, roads, railway tracks, on
borders of farmers fields as a boundary fence or live hedge in the
arid/semi-arid areas.

As such it can be used to reclaim wastelands in the forests and outside.

Jatropha is not browsed by animals.

Being rich in nitrogen, the seed cake is an excellent source of organic

manure.

One hectare of Jatropha plantation can produce 3 to 4 MT seed.

Gestation period is two years

Various parts of the plant have medicinal value, its bark contains
tannin, the flowers attract bees and thus the plant has honey production
potential.

Like all trees, Jatropha removes carbon from the atmosphere, stores it
in the woody tissues and assists in the build up of soil carbon. It is thus
environment friendly.

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Jatropha can be established from seed, seedlings and vegetatively

from cuttings. Use of branch cutting for propagation is easy and results
in rapid growth;

The bush can be expected to start bearing fruit within two years and in
some cases after one year of planting.

The plant is undemanding in soil type and does not require tillage.

It can meet a number of objectives such as meeting domestic needs of

energy services including cooking and lighting; as an additional source
of household income and employment through markets for fuel,
fertilizer, animal feed, medicine, and industrial raw material for soap,
cosmetics, etc. in creating environmental benefits protection of crops
or pasture lands, or as a hedge for erosion control, or as a windbreak
and a source of organic manure.

It has the desired physio-chemical and performance characteristic

comparable to petro-diesel.

Jatropha oil has higher cetone number

(51), which is comparable to diesel (46 to 50) and makes it an ideal

alternative fuel and requires no modification in the engine.

The initial flash point of Jatropha oil is 1000C as compared to 500C in

case of diesel.

In view of higher flashpoint, it has advantage over

petro-diesel such as more safety during storage, handling and

transport.

However, higher flash point may create initial starting

problem in the engine. Similarly, higher viscosity of Jatropha oil could

pose the problem of smooth flow of oil in fuel supply pipe and nozzle.
These problems/difficulties can easily be overcome by esterification of
Jatropha oil, which is a very effective way of overcoming high viscosity
and smoke emissions of vegetable oil by forming their ethyl/methyl
esters.

Constraints in Jatropha cultivation

Jatropha curcas is a potential source of bio-diesel, however, it needs to be
explored. The initiatives made to explore the possibility and potential of Jatropha
have not yet reach to the final conclusion. The constraints are as hereunder:-

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i.

The existing Jatropha curcas are giving yield in the areas where annual
rainfall is above 500 MM.

ii.

The Jatropha curcas can not tolerate frost and also the temperature below
0C.

iii.

There is no fruiting or grain filling during summer season in most of the

states where temperature goes above 43C.

iv.

The productivity is comparatively low and not much economically beneficial

to the farmers with the existing planting material.

v.

Jatropha curcas needs one or two life saving irrigation during summer
season for better harvesting.

vi.

Almost all types of wastelands are suitable but soil depth should be more
than 2 ft.

vii.

Non-availability of Minimum Support Price of produce of the farmers.

viii.

No seed standard have been made so far to check the quality plantation.

Efforts to overcome constraints:

The following efforts are being made to overcome the above constraints in the
country:i.

Location specific package of practice are being developed through State

Agricultural Universities and other research institutes located in 23 states
of the country.

ii.

Superior quality planting material having high oil content and yield are
being identified for further multiplication and production of quality planting
material.

iii.

Varietal development through hybridization as well as other techniques are

being made by using promising line from various states.

iv.

Research trials are being conducted to test in different locations with

various permutation-combination.

v.

Various agronomic trials are being conducted for productivity enhancement

vi.

Possibility for Jatropha cultivation through inter-cropping suitable for

different states and agro-climatic conditions are being explored.

vii.

Model plantations are being developed on Agricultural Universities/Govt.

seed farms in all the potential states to provide quality planting material to
the farmers.

viii.

Seed standards are being made to bring Jatropha curcas into Seed Act so
that Seed Law Enforcement can be made effective to ensure the quality
plantation.

ix.

The Minimum Support Price (MSP) of bio-diesel has been declared and is
likely to be revised further, however, MSP of seed is still to be finalized.

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x.
xi

A concrete policy for bio-fuel including ethanol (petrol) and bio-diesel

production as substitute of petro-diesel is to be made.
The necessary efforts are

being made for promotion of Jatropha.

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Potential of Jatropha cultivation in India

The country has 168 million ha. arable lands out of its 328.73 million ha.
geographical area. There is about 63 million ha. wastelands in the country, out of
which about 40 million ha. area can be developed by undertaking plantations of
Jatropha. The state-wise availability of wastelands and their exploitable potential
under Jatropha plantation is as under:
Sr.
No.

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
9.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
18.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.

States

Andhra Pradesh
Arunachal Pradesh
Assam
Bihar/Jharkhand
Goa
Gujarat
Haryana
Himachal Pradesh
Jammu & Kashmir
Karnataka
Kerala
Madhya
Pradesh
/
Chhattisgarh
Maharashtra
Manipur
Meghalaya
Mizoram
Nagaland
Orissa
Punjab
Rajasthan
Sikkim
Tamil Nadu
Tripura
Uttar Pradesh/ Uttranchal
West Bengal
Union Territories
Grand Total

Available
wasteland
(million ha.)
5.175
1.832
2.001
2.099
0.061
4.302
0.373
3.165
6.544
2.084
0.145
6.971

Exploitable potential
of
Jatropha
plantation
(million
ha.)
4.396
0.997
1.456
1.860
0.04
2.871
0.262
0
0
1.789
0.10
6.620

5.349
1.295
0.99
0.407
0.840
2.134
0.223
10.564
0.356
2.301
0.127
3.877
0.571
0.057
63.843

4.855
1.262
0.937
0.407
0.840
1.888
0.106
5.688
0.213
1.795
0.128
1.214
0.258
0.055
40.037

The above wasteland may be classified as gullied and ravenous, up-land with
or without scrub, degradable land under plantation, pastures, grazing, mining
industrial wasteland, hill slopes, fallow land, railway tracks, canal, field boundary and
community waste land etc. The Jatropha can be grown in all above categories of

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wastelands with minimum care. This should be a major thrust area in making country
independent in bio-fuel sector.
CULTIVATION OF JATROPHA
Seed source for raising nursery
The Jatropha plant once planted in the field, starts fruiting after 2 years and
continues upto 30-40 years.

Therefore, the freshly harvested seeds from the

identified quality planting material having desirable characteristics like high seed
yield, high oil content in seed, synchronized maturity, resistant to insect, pests and
diseases etc. should always be used for raising of nursery.

The quality parent

material (seeds & seedlings) should be obtained from the most reliable sources like
State Departments of Agriculture, Horticulture, Forests etc.,

State Agricultural

Universities, R&D institutions of Indian council of agricultural research (ICAR),

Council of Scientific and Industrial research (CSIR), Indian council of Forest
Research and Education (ICFRE), registered nurseries etc. The NOVOD Board has
raised model plantation of Jatropha in 10,083 ha. area in the following states, which
will serve as basic parental material:
State
Andhra
Pradesh
Arunachal
Pradesh
Bihar
Chhattisgarh
Gujarat
Haryana
Jharkhand
Karnataka
Kerala
Manipur
Sikkim

Plantation
(ha.)
355

State
Mizoram

185

Meghalaya

10
604
1129
460
700
374
50
250
100

Maharashtra
Madhya Pradesh.
Nagaland
Rajasthan
Tamil Nadu
Uttar Pradesh
Uttrakhand
West Bengal
Grand Total

Plantation
(ha.)
500
113
1634
742
440
176
464
779
618
100
10083

Raising of quality nursery

Seedlings are raised in the flat seed beds or in poly bags of half kg. capacity filled
with mixture of soil and FYM in the ratio of 4:1. Two seeds are sown in each poly
bags at a depth of 1.5-2.0 cm and watered regularly. The seeds germinate after a
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week. When the seedlings are around 4 weeks older, the weaker of two seedlings
can be removed and used for gap filling.

The plants can also be raised easily

through cutting February-March, is the best time for sowing of nursery and
July-August (rainy season) is the best time for transplanting seedlings in the field.
Propogation practices
Jatropha can grows easily from seeds.

However, commercially it can be

propagated by three different ways such as by seeds, nursery and stem cutting.
By seeds
Fully matured seeds should be selected for sowing. Pre-soaking in water for 24
hrs is advised. Another way is to soak seeds is cow-dung slurry for 12 hrs before
sowing. Soaked seeds are generally sown in poly bags of 10 x20 cm size filled with
soil, sand and FYM (Farm yard manure) in the ratio of 1:2:1 respectively.
Germination is generally noticed after 4-5 days and continues up to 15 days. If the
seedlings are to be retained by 5-6 months before transplantation, then bigger poly
bags (15x25 cm) should be taken.
Bold & disease free seeds from fresh collections are to be used for obtaining
better germination percentage and Growth performance.

Low Germination

percentages and high mortality rates were found if the seeds from previous years are
used.
Sowing in nursery beds
Raised beds (10 cm high) are prepared by digging and mixing soil with sand
and FYM in 1:1:1 ratio. Each bed is prepared having 1 m x 5 m dimensions. Shallow
furrows of 2 cm depth are made by finger or using a stick. Soaked seeds are placed
in furrows at an interval of 5 cm. and covered with a thin layer of soil. Care is taken to
avoid deep sowing. Light Irrigations are given after seed germination and bare rooted
seedlings are transplanted after 3-4 months in the field during the rainy season.
By stem cutting
Jatropha responds well for vegetative propagation.

Propagation through

branch cuttings is not new and farmers know these technique. In fact, 90% Jatropha
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spread throughout the country for live fence was by branch cuttings only. Cuttings
planted during monsoon immediately after Ist showers give better root initiation, high
survival rate and good growth performance.
i.
ii.
iii.
iv.
v.
vi.

Superior Jatropha tray/ genotypes are selected on the basis of their high seed
yield and oil content.
From the selected tree, collect the branches having 2-3 cm diameter, put them in
a bucket of water.
Cut them into 15-20 cm long pieces with a knife or a mini hand-saw.
Dip the cuttings into a tuve rooting hormone mixture (may be commercial seradix
or growth harmones like IBA or NAA of 100 ppm concentration.
Put the cuttings in a poly bagged rooting media (Soil + Sand in 1:1) by inserting
the basal region (about 3 cm).
Place the poly bags inside a closed polythene chamber or mist chamber to avoid
the drying of cuttings. Allow the cuttings inside the chamber for a period of 2-3
weeks.
Rooting can be seen through the transparent polybags in about 3 weeks of time.

Rooting response is always better in harmone treated cuttings than in untreated

cuttings. After removing from polychamber, the clones (vegetative propagules) are to
be kept out side under partial shade for 2 weeks before transferring them to the field
for transplanting. Using polythene chamber or mist chamber is advantageous
because the plants do not lose more water through evapo-transpiration due to
checking of wind velocity, the cuttings are kept always moistened thus not allowing
them to become dry and ensures easy and profuse rooting.
The cuttings are planted in the month of February-March to get best sprouting
and survival.

Experience gained suggests heavy mortality in cuttings if planted

during rainy season.

Plantation practices
The disease free and bold seedlings of Jatropha are transplanted in rows at a
spacing of 3x2 meter under irrigated condition accommodating 1666 plants/ha. On
rainfed wasteland high density planting at 2 m x 2 m accommodating 2500 plants/ ha.
is recommended.
Direct planting by seeds
The land is ploughed once or twice depending upon the nature of soil. In case
of heavy soil deep ploughing is desirable, whereas in light soil shallow ploughing is
sufficient. The 30 cm x 30 cm pits dug in the field at required spacing should be filled
with a mixture of soil, FYM (2-3 kg) and fertilizer (20 g urea, 120 g single super
phosphate and 16 g murate of potash. Two seeds per pit should be dibbled at each
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pit with the onset of monsoon. When the seedlings are 4 weeks old weaker seedling
can be removed and the seedlings so removed can be used for gap filling.
Transplanting
Four weeks healthy seedlings should be planted in the pit at required depth.
Eight to ten week old seedlings are to be planted in 30 cm x 30 cm pits dug in the
field at required spacing and filled with a mixture of soil, FYM (2-3 kg.) and fertilizer
(20 gm urea, 120 g single super phosphate and 16 g murate of potash).
Care after plantation
One irrigation is applied immediately after plantation, however, during dry
period only life saving irrigations should be applied to the plants as and when
required. Usually from second year onwards irrigation is not required unless soils are
shallow and sandy. Two irrigations in a year if applied at both the flowering period
stages will enhance the yield.
The NPK in the ratio of 46:48:24 kg per ha is to be applied in split doses from
second year onwards so as to obtain economic yields. Inter-culturing should be
carried out whenever necessary. Annually, 3-4 weed lings may be carried out for
keeping weed free field during initial growth period.
Inter-cropping with Jatropha
The inter-cropping during initial years of plantation i.e. upto gestation period is
suggested to increase income per unit area.
The crops being utilized for
inter-cropping should have following characteristic:

Annual crops having no competition in nutrient uptake, height, shade etc.

Leguminous in nature to increase soil fertility

Require less spacing, irrigation etc.

Shade loving

Having high economic value

Keeping in view of above, the following crops should be selected for

inter-cropping:1.

Pulse & oilseeds crops: Moong,

Urd,

Gram,

Pea,

Lentil,

Cowpea,

Sesamum, Soybean, Rapeseed & Mustard, Linseed etc.

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2.

Vegetable crops: Ginger, Potato, Sweet potato,

Carrot, Bitter guard,

Tomato, Cucumber, Chilly, Cucurbits etc.

3.

Medicinal & aromatic crops:

Mentha,

Ashwagandha,

Kalmegh,

Sarpgandha, Isabgol, Satavar etc.

Plant protection
Jatropha plants are less prone to attack by diseases and insects. Following few
common diseases and insects are to be checked from time to time for better seed
yields:
(A)

Diseases

. Name

No.
1.

of Causal organism

Control

disease

2.

D a m p i n g Phytopthera pithium
off
Collar rot
Myerophomina phaseolina

3.
4.

Root rot
Leaf spot

(B) Insects
1.
Leaf minor
2.
Blue Bug
3.
Green bug

Fusarium moniliforme
Helminthosporium utramera

Spray of Keptan 50% @

0.2%
Drenching
of
1%
Baurdeax mixture
Spray of thiram @ 0.2%
Spray of Blitox @ 0.2%

Spray of 1.5 ml/litre of water of metasystox 25 CC

Spray of phosphomedin/ Dimethoate @ 2.0 ml/3 lt. of water
Spray of 2 ml/3 lt. water of phosphomedin

Seed yield
In India, it flowers between September-December and March-April. The
fruiting extends from September to December. The fruits mature 2-4 months after
flowering. With proper care, average seed yield under rainfed condition is expected
as under:
Years
2
3
4
5
6 & onwards

Expected seed
(Kg/ha/yr)
250-300
500-600
1000-1500
1600-2000
2500-4000

Collection, processing and oil extraction

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The ripe fruits are plucked from short trees. The collected seeds are sun dried
and decorticated manually or by decorticators.

One person could collect and

decorticate 25-30 kg seed per day. Kernels are sold in the market in small quantities.
This is an income generating village level activity and can be integrated with the
rural development programme alongwith collection of other non-traditional oilseeds
like mango stones, karanj and neem. The oil is extracted from modern oil expellers
having high oil recovery and possessing various capacity.
Bio-diesel production and Trans-esterification
Bio-diesel is a methyl ester formed by a process called Tranesterification.
Here, the Jatropha oil is reacted with methanol in the presence of a catalyst to yield
methyl esters and glycerol. Sodium hydroxide (NaOH) is commonly used catalyst,
though potassium hydroxide (KOH) can also be used. The methanol and NaOH are
premixed and added to the Jatropha oil, mixed for few hours and left to gravity settle
for about 8 hrs. The bio-diesel comes to top leaving glycerine to settle at the bottom.
This process is done through a machine called trans-esterification unit.
Trans-esterification of vegetable oils with simple alcohol has long been the
preferred method for producing bio-diesel. In general, there are two methods of
trans-esterification. One method simply uses a catalyst and the other is without a
catalyst. The former method has a long history of development and the bio-diesel
produced by this method is now available in North America, Japan and some western
European countries.
Basic Reaction
The overall transesterification reaction is given by 3 consecutive and
reversible equations as below: The first step is the conversion of triglycerides to
diglycerides, followed by the conversion of diglycerides to monoglycerides, and of
monoglycerides to glycerol, yielding one methyl ester molecule per mole of glyceride
at each step:
Catalyst
Diglyceride + RICOOR Catalyst

Triglyceride + ROH
Catalyst

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Monoglyceride + RIICOOR

Diglyceride + ROH
Catalyst
Monoglyceride + ROH

Glycerol + RIIICOOR

The overall chemical reaction of the trans-esterification process is as follows:CH-COORI

I

Catalyst
+3ROH

CH2 OH

RI COOR

CH-COORII

CHOH

CH3-COORIII

CH2OH

RIII COOR

Glycerol

Bio-diesel

Triglyceride

Methanol

RII COOR
+

(Vegetable
oil)
As seen above, the trans-esterification is an equilibrium reaction in which
excess alcohol is required to drive the reaction close to completion. Fortunately, the
equilibrium constant favors the formation of methyl esters such that only a 5:1 molar
ratio of methanol:triglycerides is sufficient for 95-98% yield of ester.
It might be anticipated that in such a system, glycerol would play a major role
in achieving conversions close to 100%. Several catalysts were tried for the purpose
of trans-esterification by several workers, but alkoxides are the most efficient
catalysts, although KOH and NaOH can also be used. Transmethylation occurs in
the presence of both alkaline and acidic catalysts. As they are less corrosive to
industrial equipment, alkaline catalysts are preferred in industrial processes. A
concentration in the range of 0.5-1% has been found to yield 94-99% conversion to
vegetable oil esters.
The energetic have indicated that about 50 kw of electricity per ton of
bio-diesel is required, of which 60-70% is consumed for the production of glycerin.
The process requires mixing of vegetable oil with a mixture prepared by dissolving
KOH catalyst in methanol and heating at 70C with stirring for 1 h. The mixture is
allowed to settle under gravity.

The glycerin, being heavier, settles down in the

bottom layer and the upper layer constitutes the bio-diesel (esters). The glycerin is
separated and the esters are washed with water for catalyst recovery. The bio-diesel

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layer is finally dried using silica gel and it is now ready for blending with diesel in
various proportions for engine operation. The blend, for convenience, is referred to
as Bxx, where xx indicates the amount of bio-diesel in percentage in the blend (i.e.
B-20 blend is 20% bio-diesel and 80% diesel).
Cost economics
The cost of cultivation of Jatropha varies depending upon location,
geographical area, availability of inputs etc. The cost of plantation of Jatropha is
estimated to be Rs. 25,000 per ha. whereas that of bio-diesel production varies
depending upon input cost and cost of bio-products as illustrated hereunder:Cost of plantation (one ha.)
Hypothesis: Spacing:
2Mx2M
No. of plants per ha. 2,500
Gestation period: Three years.
Sr. No

Component

Cost of plantation (Rs. per ha.)

First Year

1.

Second year

Site preparation i.e. cleaning and leveling of field

600

Alignment and staking

Digging of pits (2500 Nos.) of 30 Cm3 size
Cost of FYM (including carriage) 2 kg per pits
Cost of fertilizer @ Rs. 6 per kg (50 gm. per plan
during 1st year and 25 gm from 2nd year
onward).
6.
Mixing of FYM, insecticides fertilizers and
refilling of pits
7.
Cost of plants (including carriage) 2500 Nos.
during first year and 500 Nos. of plants during
second year for replanting @ Rs. 4.0 per plant.
8.
Planting and replanting cost
9.
Irrigation 3 irrigation during 1st and one
irrigation during 2nd year @ Rs. 500/- per
irrigation.
10.
Weeding and soil working
11.
Plant protection measure
Sub Total
Contingency (10% of the above)
Grand Total
1 USD = Rs.40.50
Cost of Bio-diesel production

300
3000
2000
870

495

1500

10000

2000

1500
1500

300
500

1200
300
22770
2277
25047

1200
4495
450
4945

2.
3.
4.
5.

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The cost of bio-diesel is the most important aspect of promotion of Jatropha

for bio-diesel production in the country. Being eco-friendly, easy to produce raw
material, easy oil extraction and trans-esterification, it is cheaper also if produced
commercially as illustrated below:S r . Component
No.

Total expenditure/ revenue

S.C. Rs.5/kg

S.C. Rs.5/kg

S.C. Rs.5/kg

T.C.-Rs.5/litre

T.C.-Rs.5/litre

T.C.-Rs.5/litre

G -Rs.20/kg

G -Rs.30/kg

G -Rs.40/kg

1.

Cost (Rs.)

1.1.

Seed cost (SC) 100 kg 500

seed

500

500

1.2.

Oil extraction (100 kg 100

seed @ Rs.1 per kg)

100

100

1.3.

Trans-esterification
(TC) for 33 litre oil

cost 165

165

165

765

765

765

2.

Recovery (Rs.

2.1.

Oil meal 65 kg @ Rs. 3 195

per kg

195

195

2.2.

Glycerol (G) 10 kg

200

300

400

Sub-Total

395

495

594

8.18

5.15

Sub-Total

3.

Cost
of
(Rs./litre)

bio-diesel 11.21

{Cost recovery/33 litre}

To meet the challenges of excessive import, we have to strengthen our
oilseed sector and lay special emphasis on harnessing the existing and augmenting
future potential source of green fuel. The organized plantation and systematic
collection of Jaropha oil, being potential bio-diesel substitutes will reduce the import
burden of crude petroleum substantially. The emphasis should be made to invest in
agriculture sector for exploitation of existing potential by establishing model seed
procurement centres, installing preprocessing and processing facilities, oil extraction
unit, trans-esterification units etc. There is also need to augment the future potential
by investing largely on compact organized plantation of Jatropha on the available

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wastelands of the country. This will enable our country to become independent in the
fuel sector by promoting and adopting bio-fuel as an alternative to petroleum fuels.

-.-.-.-.-.-.-

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