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For biodiesel production, from Crude Jatropha Oil, to become a measurable supplement to petrodiesel on the world markets, through production on industrial scale Jatropha groves, a prior requirement is a sceptical analysis of its operational and financial viability
Because oil from the Jatropha tree is inedible there has been little financial incentive for commercial cultivation. All this has been changed by recent concerns about global warming and heightened geopolitical uncertainty about secure supplies of fossil fuels.
Five years ago the Indian Government launched a pioneering programme to identify the most suitable crop to provide feedstock for biodiesel production. Their research led them to identify the jatropha tree as having the highest potential.
In 2003 the European Union, driven by concerns about Carbon emissions and global warming, mandated that the EU would go 2% biodiesel by 2005, rising to 5% by 2010, and to 10% by 2020. It became apparent that the shortage of feedstock would be an ongoing issue for the foreseeable future.
This potential shortage of biodiesel feedstock catalysed interest in the commercial cultivation of Jatropha.
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