To Produce Biofuel Employing Jatropha Curcus L: Assessment and Bioinduction of Energy Components

Fossil fuels have been have been the prime source of energy for domestic, transportation and industrial sector for more than a century. The rapidly increasing consumption and consequent depletion of these reserves clearly show that the end of the fossil fuel era is not very far. For developing countries like India, rising world prices of crude oil and petroleum is a serious cause of concern. We import almost 70% of our requirement of crude oil and in future it is likely to increase to 85%. This is high time to ponder over and to find an alternative to partly replace the petroleum crude and be the fuel of the future Biodiesel buses are in use in Europe and in the mid western United states. In India successful test run drives have been done by using biodiesel produced from Jatropha curcas (Ratanjyot in Hindi). Shatabdi train was run from Delhi to Amritsar using B5 (5% biodiesel) blend and no problem was observed during the run. Jatropha curcas L is a multipurpose species with many attributes and considerable potential. The oil from the seeds is potentially the most valuable end product. Nearly 40% of the land area in India is wasteland. However, a large number of latex bearing and oil yielding plants can grow under such unfavourable agro-climatic conditions. J. curcas grow well under such adverse climatic conditions because of its low moisture demands, fertility, requirements, and tolerances to high temperatures. The seed contains 19.0% oil, 4.7% polyphenol, and 3.9% hydrocarbon. This semi-drying oil could be an efficient substitute for diesel fuel. The gross calorific value for the seed (0% moisture content) was 4980.3 cal/g (20.85 MJ/kg), oil was 9036.1 cal/g (37.83 MJ/kg, and hydrocarbon was 9704.4 cal/g (40.63 MJ/kg)). The oil fraction consists of saturated fatty acids: palmitic acid (14%), stearic acid (6.7%) and unsaturated fatty acids: oleic acid (47%), linoleic acid (31.36). treatment of plants with growth regulators significantly influences the production of hydrocarbons. Among the treatments, ethephon and morphactin induced the maximum production of hydrocarbon with 5.0% and 5,4%, respectively.