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Written by Sabrina Deparine
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Wednesday, 29 April 2009 09:36 |
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Page views: 1220 |
SG Biofuels, a biofuel firm based in Encinitas, California, has recently opened a Genetic Resource Center to focus on studies on jatropha as an alternative to oil. The new facility boasts of possessing the world’s largest and most genetically diverse library of jatropha genetic material. Hopefully, with all these resources and opportunities, the research center will be able to discover and maximize the full potential of jatropha.
 The company has announced last Monday that they are pinning their hopes on jatropha as a fuel alternative. In fact, they have intensified their drive to develop the high-yielding jatropha plant to produce a cheaper and more sustainable source of inedible feedstock for biofuels.
The main reason that jatropha has been chosen is because the plant is native to Central America and can be cultivated easily. The plant can also grow on abandoned lands that are deemed unsuitable for other crops. Jatropha seeds are also capable of producing as much as four times the amount of biofuel that can be produced from a hectare of soybeans. This is ten times as much as the biofuel that can be produced from corn. In addition, the residue left from the crushing, more popularly known as “cake”, can be utilized to power electric plants.
Of late, jatropha-based fuel caught the limelight because of the global airline industry. The world’s first commercial aviation test flight conducted last December utilized a 50-50 mix of jatropha and conventional jet fuel.
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