Curcas Seed

The Jatropha plant, known as Sabu-dum in Thai, is a hardy plant consisting of more than 170 succulent plants, trees and shrubs grown around the world, including the variety Jatropha Curcas. The Jatropha Curcas and Curcas seeds respectively, offer an ideal choice as a biofuel crop for a number of reasons including: fast growth rates, natural resistance to pests and disease, and yields averaging 30 percent – 35 percent oil content per Curcas seed.

The flower inflorescence yields a bunch of about 10 or more ovoid fruits which mature into yellowish-colour fruits ready for harvesting. The blackish thin-shelled Curcas seeds are oblong in shape and resemble small castor seeds. The Curcas seeds are easily crushed mechanically and can yield about 33% of inedible oil, which provides a much sought-after feedstock for further downstream processing (trans-esterification) into methyl ester or bio-diesel.

Due to the toxic properties of the Curcas seeds, Jatropha Curcas is not a food and can exclusively be used for the production of inedible products, including biodiesel and high quality fertilizer. Biodiesel made from Curcas seeds is known as Jatropha Methyl-Ester, and does not risk price fluctuations based on market conditions of edible foods as Curcas seeds by-products cannot be base ingredients in foods. This also eliminates Jatropha Curcas as well as Curcas seeds from the “food for the poor or fuel for the rich debate” and its use in biodiesel production does not affect the cost of living of the local population unlike palm oil, for example.

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