Jatropha Oil Plant

Jatropha curcus, more commonly known as the castor oil plant, is often considered a weed due to its hardiness and quick growing habits. It can survive in poor soil and with relatively little water, and plants have been known to produce seeds for up to 50 years before dying out. However, recent investigation has shown that the Jatropha seeds may be a promising source of alternative oil that can be used with diesel motors and similar devices if harvested correctly.The primary advantages of jatropha over other oil-producing plants are that it is tolerant of poor soil, and in fact improves it by fixing nitrogen in the soil. A manual or engine-powered press can be used to extract the oil from the seeds.

Jatropha Oil Processing Methods

Traditional Jatropha Oil Processing Methods

Traditional methods are used in the rural and developing areas for extracting the oils. Traditional methods are simple and the oil is extracted by hand using simple equipment.
Hot oil extraction: The process of extracting the oil at high pressure is called as hot oil extraction method. Since jatropha oil can regulate the operating temperature it is extracted using the hot oil extraction method.
Then the cold oil extraction method it is easy to extract the oil from the hot oil extraction since the oil flows more easily due to higher viscosity. And the press cake that remains after extracting the oil also have less oil content which might be 3 to 7 % approximately. These two reasons make the oil press method very interesting.
During the oil extraction method many stuffing of the seeds are converted into gum like substances and some non organic substances. These are unwanted products and so they have to be refined.

Modern Jatropha Oil Processing Methods

Modern methods are followed to extract more oils from the jatropha seeds. In these modern concepts chemical methods like aqueous enzymatic treatment is used. The maximum yield by following this modern method is said to be about 74/5. The main idea in researching the modern concepts is to extract a greater percentage of oil from the jatropha seeds.