BANGLADESH AGRICULTURAL UNIVERSITY (BAU) DEPARTMENT OF FARM POWER AND MACHINERY, MYMENSINFGH-2202, BANGLADESH

Tel.: +880-91-55045, Cell: +880-0171-6411105, Fax:+880-91-55810

E-mail:dhussainbau@yahoo.com

August, 2007

Jatropha plantation group

Core team:

BAU:                Prof. Dr. Md. Daulat Hussain

                          B.Sc.Ag.Engg.,M.Engg.and Dr.sc.agr.

                        Md. Parvez Islam, M.S

                        Ehsanul Kabir, M.S

CHT                 Mr. U Chaw Prue, B.Sc.Ag.Engg. 

JOCL                Dr. Rabeya Begum

                        Md. Bablu Bhuiyan

Farmer            Md. Mofazzal Hossain Dulal

                     Md. Bulbul Ahmed        

Support          Mr. Jae Shin Kim

team               Mr. Moon Hwan Kim

                       Mr.N.W. KANG

Department of Farm Power and Machinery

Bangladesh Agricultural University

Mymensingh-2202, Bangladesh

Introduction:

Total electricity generation capacity in Bangladesh is about 3.6 gigawatts of which 94% comes from thermal production and 6% from hydro. This covers only 20% of the total demand of the country. In the rural areas people presently used energy from petrol, diesel and kerosene. A very little people living in the per urban areas use low quality coal for domestic purposes. Presently the prices of the fossil fuels such as petroleum products and coal are very costly. Due to this high price people becoming disinterested to use them as domestic fuel supply, agricultural purposes, etc. Because of the above situations in the supply of fuels, scientists are looking for alternate source of energy, such as solar energy, wind energy, biofuels and biomass. It is estimated that fossil fuel will be used up within 50 years and the scientists and engineers are searching to find out alternative fuel from other sources. This idea of biodiesel came from the German Scientist Rudolf diesel who invented the diesel engines.  Commercial production of biodiesel in the United States began in the 1990s.

Presently in some countries are producing oil producing plants to supplement the fuel requirement from biodiesel, specially from jatropha seeds. According to literature review it is found that Jatropha oil is suitable for energy supply for the poor people and it is suitable for domestic lighting in the night, cooking, running small diesel engines etc.

Jatropha curcas is known as wild plant grows in the forest and some farmers in the upland areas uses as hedges. This plant grows well in wide range of soils and humid areas. Bangladesh is a good place for its cultivation. It has many uses like oil for rural energy supply, cake for fish or animal feed, organic fertilizer, bio-pesticides, medicine, soap etc. Jatropha Plantation is seen where rainfall is 500 to 750 mm and also grows in drought prone areas and where rainfall is scanty (Reinhard et al. 2004). Jatropha can bear fruits for 25 years. Jatropha oil is successfully using with small diesel engines in India, Brazil, Madagascar, Thailand, Vietnam, China, Indonesia, and Myanmar (Heller,1996). Average seed yield is around 6 to 15 ton/ha. Seed contains 25 to 37% oil. India is producing bio-diesel commercially from Jatropha Curcas. Besides, many developed countries have active biodiesel program. Currently biodiesel is produced mainly from field crop oils like rapeseed, sunflower etc. in Europe and soybean in USA. Malaysia utilizes palm oil for biodiesel production while in Nicaragua and other African countries it is produced from Jatropha oil.

The free fatty acid (FFA) content should be less than 1%. It was observed that lesser the FFA in oil better is the biodiesel recovery. Different technologies are currently available and used in the industrial production of biodiesel, which is sold under different trademarks. These units are using sunflower oil, soybean oil, rapeseed oil, used-frying oil, Jatropha oil, etc. The main objective is to develop system to cultivate Jatropha commercially and to produce bio-diesel in the country.

Review of Literature:

The aim of this chapter is to discuss the available literatures related to biodiesel production. Very limited works have been done in Bangladesh in this regard. Works relevant to the biodiesel production performed by various researchers are reviewed in this section.

Biodiesel Production Methods

Fukuda et al. (2001) of Kobe University studied biodiesel fuel production by transesterification of oils. Several processes for biodiesel fuel production have been developed, among which transesterification using alkali-catalysis gives high levels of conversion of triglycerides to their corresponding methyl esters in short reaction times. This process has therefore been widely utilized for biodiesel fuel production in a number of countries. Recently, enzymatic transesterification using lipase has become more attractive for biodiesel fuel production, since the glycerol produced as a by-product can easily be recovered and the purification of fatty acid methyl esters is simple to accomplish. The main hurdle to the commercialization of this system is the cost of lipase production. As a means of reducing the cost, the use of whole cell biocatalysts immobilized within biomass support particles is significantly advantageous since immobilization can be achieved spontaneously during batch cultivation, and in addition, no purification is necessary. The lipase production cost can be further lowered using genetic engineering technology, such as by developing lipases with high levels of expression and/or stability towards methanol. Hence, whole cell biocatalysts appear to have great potential for industrial application.

Zamora et al. (2001) conducted an experiment on the transesterification of Jatropha curcas oil. At laboratory level the two-step transesterification process of Jatropha curcas oil was optimized, to obtain via methanolysis (KOH and NaOH as catalyst) a product with an ester concentration greater than 99 %.The best results were obtained with 50 % excess of methanol (of the stoichiometric quantity), 1.3 % (of weight) of KOH / NaOH relation, 8:2, and 75 % of the basic solution added at the first and 25 % at the second step. Under the same conditions a two-step process was simulated, working with a mixture of 90 % ester and 10 % Jatropha curcas oil. The recirculation of the ester permitted the transformation of a batch process into a continuous one.

Performance of Biodiesel

Studer and Wolfensberger (1992) describe the alternative fuel extracted from biodiesel which can be used in unmodified diesel engines. Compared to petrochemical diesel oil, it offers several advantages. The waste gases contain practically no sulpher, the smoke emission is about 30% lower and the CO₂ emission is more or less compensated by the assimilative process of the plants.

Cost -effective Production of Biodiesel

Neha (2004) studied the cost-effective production and supply of bio-diesel in India. Biodiesel is an upcoming renewable source of energy, which would not only help in controlling the demand and supply of fuel but, in the reduction of pollution. It is simple to use, easy to transport, biodegradable, non-toxic and essentially free from sulpher and aromatics fuel and has about 10% oxygen, which helps it to burn fully. In India, it is prepared from domestic renewable resources i.e., non-edible vegetable oils. India has about 80 million hectares of land that is suitable for the production of non-edible oil-bearing plants. With the help of GIS tools, it is possible to examine the spatial distribution of input resources, in combination with proximity to infrastructure, considered favorable for the production of biodiesel. With the use of ‘Remote Sensing’, the suitable land area can be selected, for the cultivation of biodiesel-yielding plants. Not only that with the help of GIS it is possible to setup the biodiesel manufacturing plants, near to those areas, which would not only help in reducing transportation costs but would also provide employment to many people.

Effect on Environment

Sun et al. (2003) studied the effect of biodiesel on the environment and energy.  Biodiesel is a fuel, which can be produced by the chemical process of reacting vegetable oils or animal fats (transesterification). Biodiesel is receiving more attention as an alternative, non-toxic, biodegradable and renewable diesel fuel. Many studies have shown that the properties of biodiesel are very close to that of diesel fuel. Therefore, biodiesel can be used in diesel engine with little or no engine modification. Examining global issues, such as CO₂ emissions, requires a comprehensive life cycle analysis. The biodiesel energy balance, its effect on greenhouse gas emissions, and on the regulated gas emissions and solid waste pollutants were investigated in each step needed to make biodiesel and diesel fuel. They  concluded that fossil energy ratio of biodiesel is four times that of petroleum diesel; biodiesel reduces net CO₂ emissions by 78.45% compared to petroleum diesel in the life cycle. On the other hand, the tailpipe emissions of biodiesel such as CO and HC are 46 and 37% lower than that of petroleum diesel, respectively.

Study on Jatropha curcas

An exploratory study to detect patterns of variation in flower, fruit and seed production in one-year-old plants of Jatropha curcas (Euphorbiaceae) in response to variation in soil moisture and fertility was conducted by Aker (1995) during a 12-month period in Nicaragua. The plant's architecture conforms to Leeuwenberg's model. Flowering tends to be episodic and responds to variation in rainfall. Nutrient deficiency caused growth and reproduction to terminate in smaller plants well before the end of the wet season. Both inflorescence size and the proportion of  flowers vary with the vigour of modules. Fruit development is often uneven within an infructescence, the growth of later initiated fruits being delayed until after maturation of earlier fruits.

Grimm and Guharay (2001) studied the pests and beneficial arthropods in Jatropha curcas. They have found that the key pest was Pachycoris klugii Burmeister (Heteroptera: Scutelleridae), which damages the developing fruit. Second most frequent true bug was Leptoglossus zonatus (Dallas) (Het.: Coreidae). Twelve further species of true bugs also fed on physic nut. Other pests included the stem borer Lagocheirus undatus (Voet) (Coleoptera: Cerambycidae), grasshoppers, leaf eating beetles and caterpillars as well as leaf hoppers. Among the beneficial insects pollinators, predators and parasitoids are found.

Financial Feasibility of Jatropha curcas

Foidl et al. (1999) describes the agro-industrial exploitation of Jatropha curcas. A variety of products can be produced from the fruits of Jatropha curcas in an integrated process. The oil of the Jatropha seeds can be used as bio-diesel. The press-cake can be used as fodder (after detoxification), and the glycerol phase of the bio-diesel production process can serve as an insecticide against tick in cattle. The commercial use of by-products has the advantage of hardly any waste being produced.

Staubmann et al. (1995) investigated the production of biogas from Jatropha curcas seeds press cake. Seeds of the plant Jatropha curcas are used for the production of oil. Several methods for oil extraction have been developed. In all processes, about 50 % of the weight of the seeds remains as a press cake containing mainly protein and carbohydrates. Experiments have shown that this residue contains toxic compounds and cannot be used as animal feed without further processing and is a good substrate for biogas production. Biogas formation was studied using a semi-continuous Up flow Anaerobic Sludge Blanket (UASB) reactor, a contact-process and an anaerobic filter each reactor having a total volume of 110 liter. When using an anaerobic filter with Jatropha curcas seed cake as a substrate 76 % of the COD was degraded and 1 kg degraded COD yielded 355 liter of biogas containing 70 % methane. Properties of Jatropha Seed Heller (1996) of International Plant Genetic Resources Institute  (IPGRI), Rome measured the moisture content, protein content, oil content, and carbohydrate in 100 g Jatropha seed which has been shown in the following table (Table 2.1). It was found that the average oil content of Jatropha seed was 32- 40%.

Table 1. Properties of 100 g Jatropha curcas seed (%)

(Source: Heller, 1996)

Objectives: 

The main objective of this model farm and business plantation are to produce jatropha seed and oil production in the country.

The specific objectives are as follows:

1.          Develop 100 ha Jatropha model farm at Keshoreganj under the district of Mymensingh.

2.          Develop Jatropha business plantation farm at Keshoreganj, Brahmaputra char area, Modhupur Forest area, Chapainowabganj, Ambicaganj, Mymensingh, Chandarati, Mymensingh, Lama/kumari/Bandarban and Haluaghat, Hilly area.

3.          PRA survey among the farmers, stakeholders and jatropha oil users.

4.          Develop different techniques to use jatropha oil, cake and pruning masses efficiently.

5.          Establish central processing plant at Joydebpur /Chittagong.

6.          Develop extraction techniques among the farmers level.

7.          Develop better mother seed and cuttings for high yield.

8.          Arrange workshop on jatropha cultivation, extension work periodically.

Land availability:

For the last one month team leader along with his team visited the following areas/regions to ascertain the land availability based on the land system, inundating condition, price of land and interest of stakeholders and users. Table 1 shows the different parameters of the land in the survey areas.

Table 2. Land available in US$/year ( 1US$= Taka 68.00)

Note on the land system:

Table 3. Land area obtainable as per survey conducted

Land area pattern obtainable for the 100 ha model farm and business plantation farm at Rangamatia:

Nearly 200 farmers were assembled in the Rangamatia market. All have shown very good interest to put their land for the Jatropha cultivation. Land size will vary from 0.75 acre to 15 acres. Leasing rate is fixed at 4540.44 US$/ha for a period of 10 years. After 10 years the company will buy the seeds at a suitable price from the farmers. For business plantation farm, land can be leased from the farmers and also can be leased from the government.

Following lands are available as Khashland at the Rangamatia Mouza area:

Table 4. Area available under Khash land at Rangamatia area

Organizational structures and work relationship:

In this project Bangladesh Agricultural University, Jatropha oil company limited and Vitztech global limited will work together. BAU will provide scientific knowledge and technology to the project activities. Jatropha oil company limited will provide field work and selection of land based on the PRA survey carried out by BAU personnel. Vitztech global limited, South Korea will arrange financial aspects required by the project.

Parallel to the project work, Jatropha oil company will arrange social services. For this purpose, two physician will go to the Jatropha growers for examining the physical health of the jatropha cultivators.

Land will be leased where land is cheaper. As the land target is 30,000 ha. This land can not be available in one place. So, land should the leased out in  different places. In every places at least 10 ha land area should be leased out for demonstration purpose. This will help in increasing jatropha cultivation area as the farmer will be learned that jatropha cultivation is profitable in comparison to the native and traditional crop production.

Local office will be established in every jatropha growing areas. Office staff will be appointed.

Jatropha cultivation requirement:

Land : This is a vital requirement for the introduction of extensive cultivation of Jatropha in the country. High land is available in different districts of Bangladesh. Approximate 40% land of Barind tract and more than 60% land of Modhupur and Bhawal forest areas are available and mostly they are fallow as because of the recent deforestation occurred in those areas by rapid cutting of the trees by the tribal as well as by the forest department. Besides, land in the northern districts are always available due to drought. The land near to the riversides and char areas can be used for jatropha cultivation. Besides, land in the Bandarban area can be taken under cultivation. Lands in this area are comparatively cheaper. The above table shows the land description for selection criteria.

Jatropha curcas plant: Jatropha is available in Bangladesh but their characteristics and uses are not studied yet. Now time has come to look into the matter for academic study for generating information for jatropha oil as well as the feed for fish and animal. Chemical or physical characteristics of these trees need to be studied for wide scale cultivation in the country.

Seed : Still today Jatropha is not cultivated by the farmers but it is grown in the country as wild plant and is being used for fences in the gardens. These plants should be cultivated and should be classified according to use, seed trial must be done in the farmers field.

Soil: Bangladesh has wide ranges of soil and is suitable to cultivate for any type of tropical and adapted crops. Soil will be tested for suitability of Jatropha cultivation. Preparation of plantation is that pits size is to be maintained at  35cm x 35 cm x 35 cm and, soil characteristics in the pit will be 1/3 sand, 1/3 compost and 1/3 soil.

Cultivation method: Jatropha can be cultivated in wide range of soils. It can grow from seeds as well as from stem cutting. When the stem size is 2cm in diameter, it becomes ready to propagate or multiplication. 30 cm length pieces are cut from the mother plant and planted in the pits in any time of the year. If it is planted in the dry period then little irrigation is required. The plantlet spacing is 1m x 1m. Jatropha can be grown along canals, water streams, boundaries of crop fields, along the roads, along railway lines. In short, the less fertile lands are suitable for this plant. Once the roots penetrate deeper, Jatropha can tolerate acidic or saline soils. It’s growth can be accelerated by using compost fertilizer, cow dung and other chemical fertilizers. Some micronutrients are also helpful in improving productivity. The pH of soil should be 5.5 to 6.5. Bangladesh is an ideal place for the cultivation of Jatropha Curcas.

Expeller for Jatropha: Many types of expeller is available in different countries of the world, such as in India, South American countries. This machine can be directly imported into the country or can be developed here for experimental purpose. Our old mustard expellers with little modification can be used for Jatropha oil extraction. Oil extractor and refiner is available in the international market and the price is around 30000$. This machine is suitable for commercial production. Manually operated small unit is also available and it can be locally manufactured.

Pit Preparation: The size of the pits varies from 50 cm * 50 cm.  The soil was taken out and kept open for one week to sundry. While refilling the pits stones and boulders are to ber removed and filled with 1/3 normal soil, 1/3 sand and 1/3 compost.

Propagation Method: There are various methods of propagation of Jatropha, either generative or vegetative. Direct seeding has low survival rates. Only under good conditions of a well prepared soil and optimal moisture content and using more seeds per hole direct seeding can be successful.  Good survival rates (>90 %) are normally given with direct planting of cuttings and the transplanting methods (Heler,1996). Direct planting method will be used for the plantation purpose in this project.

Fig1. Cutting for Jatropha plantation

Intercultural Operations:

Fertilizing: About 2 kgs of organic manure along with fertilizers containing N, P and K will be mixed and applied at the time of planting. An Admixture of 20 gms of urea, 120 gms of SSP and 16 gms of MoP will be applied after the establishment of the plant. The plants will respond well to addition of small quantities of calcium, magnesium and sulpher. The plant does well when rich organic nutrition will be provided.

Pruning: The plants need to produce side shoots for maximum sprouting and maximum flowers and seed. Pruning will be done during the end of second year when the branches reached at a height of 40 - 60 cm to ensure the tree grows into proper shape and size. The top of the plant should be cut off cleanly to produce 8 –12 side branches. It is considered as a good practice. Every year branches grow near the base, and these should be removed and replanted elsewhere. In order to facilitate the harvesting, it is suggested to keep the tree less than 2 meter height.

Hoeing & Weeding: Hoeing and weeding at least twice a year is necessary, especially during the establishment period. Weeding will be accomplished as and whenever necessary to keep the plant free from weeds for better soil aeration and to break the crust. It also helped in soil moisture conservation.

Fig 2. Hoeing and weeding

Harvesting: The flowering in Jatropha depends upon the location and agro climatic conditions and fruits mature in two to four months. Flowering is started in the middle of May and harvesting will be started at July every year when the fruits showed symptoms of characteristics color, size and maturity. The fruits were collected from the branch by hand picking. The harvested fruits should be kept in dry place.

Processing and Handling: After collection of the fruits they required to be dried until all the fruits have opened. Direct sun has a negative effect on seed viability and seeds should be dried in the shade. The seeds to be dried after they were separated from the fruits and cleaned.

Storage : Seeds needs to be sorted as good, medium and poor quality. Good seeds are used for plantation while others are used for extracting oil. Seeds should not be stored in damp and dark place. It should be stored in air tight containers.

BAU experience:

Jatropha was planted in sandy loam at BAU Farm (Fig. 3).

Fig.3 Jatropha plants at BAU Farm

a. Oil extractor                                       b. Oil filtering process

Fig.4. (a) Oil extractor and (b) filtering process manufactured in Mymensingh

Recently 660 plants are planted in the BAU farm for demonstration purpose. The plant is growing well and flowering is seen in the Fig. 5 These plants have been collected from Northern district of Bangladesh and also from Hilly areas. The plant is still wild and need more time for its adaptation through demonstration in the native field.

Table 5 shows the first yield trial at BAU farm. Literature shows that Jatropha seeds contain 25 to 37 % oil. From this information  the production of Jatropha oil will be 1500 -1600 liter/ha-year and the present market value will be around Tk. 46000 - 47000 which is roughly two times of paddy cultivation. Besides, Jatropha grows very fast and it can supply biomass to the growers and Jatropha can be grown in low quality soil. After jatropha oil extraction, cake is an excellent source of plant nutrients. Fig 6 describes the recently harvested Jatropha fruit, seed and kernel. The physical properties of the jatropha seeds is shown in Table 6.

Fig.5. Jatropha Curcas at BAU campus (Islam, 2006)

Table 5. Performance of Jatropha curcas plant at BAU farm

Table 6. Physical properties of Jatropha seeds

Potential characteristics of Jatropha oil:

Jatropha oil production from Jatropha Curcas using screw type expeller is using in many countries of the world. Jatropha oil has the similar characteristics of the fossil diesel fuel and it can be directly used to diesel engines. Table 4 shows the characteristics of jatropha oil and comparison with fossil diesel.  Jatropha oil will not pollute the air during the engine operation as it contains low amount of sulphur. Besides, it is safe in storage as it has flash point higher than the fossil diesel fuel. Also its viscosity is slightly lower than the fossil diesel which is a good criteria for smooth flow of the oil through the injector.

Table.7 Characteristics of Bio-diesel and comparison with fossil diesel

Oil extraction by chemical methods (Cold percolation method for measuring the oil percentage): The flow diagram of the jatropha oil production method is shown in Fig.7.

Fig. 7 Flow diagram of the chemical method

With this method, about 37 percent oil can be recovered. The operating cost is much higher.

Oil extraction by Mechanical method:

Traditional and locally made oil expeller is used to produce Jatropha oil. Jatropha oil extraction from this type of expeller is around 15% to 20%. But if we can make some modification on the expeller then higher recovery is possible.

Fig.8. Locally made oil expeller is in operation

Fig.8 shows that locally made oil expeller is using for producing Jatropha oil in Mymensingh. The x -sectional view of this expeller and flow diagram of the operation are shown in Fig.9. Average cost of this type of expeller in the local market is around 60 to 70 thousand taka.