A homemade biodiesel from jatropha oil
Jatropha Products
From Jatropha many products are got which are used for some different purpose. The exception among them is the seed hulls all others can be used for some purpose.
Jatropha Seeds can be used as Insecticides, Molluscidies, Medicine against constipation, lighting and in oil production.
Jatropha Deshelled seeds can be used in the preparation of soap, biodiesel production, and fuel for cooking stoves.
Jatropha Oil can be used as lubricating oil, cosmetics, analyzer for fatty acids, analyzer for oils and in soap production.
Press Cake can be used an organic fertilizer.
Jatropha Leaves can be used to test malaria and it can be used in massages.
The liquid got from Jatropha can be used as a disinfectant and it is also used to stop bleeding.
The Jatropha Trunk is used to make small cheese boxes.
Seed Hulls are waste products as they are too soft and have high water content.
Jatropha Press
Jatropha Press method is used to crush the Jatropha Curcas Seeds to produce Crude Jatropha Oil, which contains primary proteins and carbohydrates. The remains after the process is called as Jatropha Press Cake which is used as a fertilizer and it also act as an enzyme for biogas production.
Jatropha as Jet Fuel
Aviation fuels are widely substituted by the biofuels produced from the jatropha oil than any other fuels. To meet the increasing demand of the jet fuels jatropha oil can be blend with the jet fuel since jatropha oil has a lower freezing point then the jet fuel.
The biodiesel prepared from the jatropha oil can also be mixed with the jet fuel with 50-50 ratio and neither will not require any modification in the engine.
Using jatropha biodiesel it is possible to save 3% of the fuel in the engines.
In December 30, 2008 the Air New Zealand flew its test flight successfully with a 50-50 blend with jatropha oil and jet fuel. And in January 2009 Ai New Zealand, Houston based continental Airlines and Japan Air also tested flights with jatropha biodiesel as a jet fuel.
Methods of extracting Jatropha oil
Jatropha is a shrub grown in dry places. Oil is extracted from the seeds of Jatropha. The Jatropha oil is used as bio diesel. Because of its high commercial value the oil is used as an alternate to biodiesel. Oils from the seeds are mainly extracted through the mechanical method, traditional method and modern method.
Mechanical method
Oil presses:
Oil presses is a simple mechanical device that is used for oil extraction. There are different processes of oil presses. The Bielenberg ram process is the commonly used presses. It is the traditional method and it is used for preparing oil cakes and soaps. 3 liters of oil is extracted from 12 kg of seeds.
Oil expeller:
There are different types of oil expellers. Sayari oil expeller and komet oil expellers are commonly used oil expellers.
The sayari oil expeller is operated with diesel and it was originated in Nepal and komet is a single screw oil expeller and it is used in oil cake preparation.
Traditional method
In this method, jatropha oil is extracted from the seeds by hand using simple procedures. Till now it is practiced in rural and undeveloped areas.
Modern method
The modern methods are used to produce more oil with fewer seeds. Enzymatic treatment the oil is reacted with alcohol in the presence of catalyst. Methanol and ethanol is the alcohol used in the process and sodium hydroxide is used as the catalyst. The biodiesel is extracted from this process.