Sustainable land development and ecosystem conservation through enhancing economic viability of the Jatropha curcas based biodiesel production chain using a bio-refinery concept

Publication Type

Conference proceedings

Authors

Makkar, H. P. S., Kumar, V., Karaj, S., Kratzeisen, M., Tipraqsa, P., Müller, J., Berger, T., Amselgruber, W., Becker, K.

Year of publication

2009

Published in

ERSEC International Conference Proceeding

Page (from - to)

210-235

Conference name

ERSEC International Conference 2009: Sustainable Land Use and Ecosystem Conservation

Conference location

Beijing, China

Conference date

4-7 May 2009

Keywords

sustainability

Environmental degradation and depleting oil reserves are matters of great concern round the globe. Developing countries like China depend heavily on oil imports. Jatropha based biodiesel is receiving increasing attention in China because its use is benign to the environment and contributes to enhance energy security by making a country less dependent on fossil fuel imports. In addition, the Jatropha plants can grow on degraded and poor soils and have tremendous potential for enhancing socio-economic conditions, improving microclimate, vegetation and soil quality. Our financial analysis has shown that with the present production level of Jatropha seeds and hence of oil for conversion to biodiesel, planting Jatropha for biodiesel production alone is not economical.  Therefore, it is imperative to generate high-valued coproducts using the concept of bio-refinery (a zero waste concept) in which each and every component in the biodiesel production chain is transformed into high valued marketable commodities.
So far, through the BMBF-MoST funded project, we have detoxified the kernel meal that contains 60% protein of high biological value. It has been proven that it is an excellent substitute for soybean meal in the diets of fish and farm animals, and the products obtained are safe for human consumption. Similarly, high valued protein concentrate containing 90% protein with excellent amino acid levels has been obtained from screw-pressed Jatropha cake. The use of by-products such as acid gums, fatty acid distillate, and glycerol (obtained during the process of biodiesel production from oil) as a constituent of livestock feed has also been explored. Other innovations include enhancement of the efficiency of screw-pressed based oil extraction from Jatropha seeds by over 30% compared to the existing screw-pressed based extraction approaches; development of a low cost furnace which uses Jatropha seed shells as a source of energy; and small and large scale Jatropha oil cleaning processes enabling the oil use in cooking stoves. This article presents the salient achievements and ongoing and future studies.