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Old 03-04-2008
atlantis energy atlantis energy is offline
 
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Cool Jatropha information

New growers often have great difficulty due to unreliable information about Jatropha yield and growing information. Oil yields from the seed runs from 30 to 40%. However the supplier of the information rarely tells you if he removes the seed hulls before pressing or not. Press seed with the hulls still on and you will probably be nearer to 30% oil. Remove the hulls on the same seed and press the kernals and your percentage of oil can be closer to 40%. Both pressing systems appear to be in use in the world but if that datum is not given, the oil percentage value is meaningless.

Jatropha curcas can grow under very dry conditions, yes, but produces poorly in that way. Irrigate for good yields.

It is common practice to discard all Jatropha byproducts as "fertilizer". The seed originally contains more starch than oil yet when the press cake is used as fertilizer the energy represented by the starch is totally lost. To me this practice makes little sense. The press cake can be fermented or placed in a biodigester to harvest the starch energy. Then the residue is a good fertilizer, actually better, without the energy loss.
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