Jatropha increasingly touted as biodiesel feedstock

12 June 2007 06:15  [Source: ICIS news]

SINGAPORE (ICIS news)--Producers were keen to understand the practical aspects of using jatropha as a feedstock for making biodiesel amid the high palm oil prices, several of them said at the Biofuels Asia conference on Tuesday.

Using jatropha as a feedstock is still about three years away, Sarju Singh, Chairman and Managing Director of D1 Oils India, said.

The wholly owned subsidiary of D1 Oils plc of UK has contracted nearly 46,000 hectares (ha) of land for cultivation of jatropha in southern and eastern India and the crop should be ready for use after three years.

While the yield of jatropha oil at 2.5 tonnes/ha is less than the nearly 4 tonne/ha of palm oil, the price of jatropha oil should be less than palm oil due to lower cost of growing the crop and the absence of competition from food demand.

Singh said that they expect the price of jatropha to be around $500-600/tonne as compared to current palm oil prices which are above $700/tonne.

Jatropha is a weed like plant which has no food use and can be grown on waste land in warm conditions. Several jatropha planations are now being undertaken in India, Indonesia, Cambodia, Malaysia and even African countries like Egypt.

Some of the other regional biodiesel producers said they were keeping an open mind regarding the use of jatropha oil as a feedstock in future although some concerns existed about the safe disposal of jatropha crush.

By: Anu Agarwal
+65 6780 4359

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