The simultaneous esterification and transesterification of Jatropha curcas oil (JCO) was carried out in the presence of Bi2O3 (1–7 wt.%) modified La2O3 catalyst at atmospheric pressure. The catalyst were characterized by X-ray diffraction (XRD), BET surface area, desorption of CO2 (TPD-CO2) and NH3 (TPD-NH3). Under the optimal reaction condition of methanol/oil molar ratio of 15:1, 2 wt.% of ca...

BACKGROUND Jatropha curcas is an important biofuel crop due to the presence of high amount of oil in its seeds suitable for biodiesel production. Triacylglycerols (TAGs) are the most abundant form of storage oil in plants. Diacylglycerol O-acyltransferase (DGAT1) enzyme is responsible for the last and only committed step in seed TAG biosynthesis. Direct upregulation of TAG biosynthesis in seeds...

The “Jatropha for Galápagos” (JFG) project in Ecuador aims to progressively replace diesel with jatropha oil in the generation of electricity in The Galápagos Islands. Thus, understanding and motivating the participation of jatropha suppliers is a priority for the sustainability of JFG. For this reason, the factors influencing their decision-making to participate in the project have been identi...

In response to our article on the water footprint (WF) of bioenergy (1), Maes et al. (2) argue that we overestimated the WF of jatropha oil, used data from a limited number of plantations , and made methodological errors. We did use little data, because hardly any data on jatropha production are available. Although we took data from various plantations from different countries, Maes et al. stat...

Being an agricultural product, the properties of crude Jatropha Curcas oil (CJCO) and the biodiesel produced from CJCO are region specific. In this work studies were carried out to produce biodiesel from crude Jatropha Curcas oil with a having high free fatty acid contents (6.85%) obtained from rural areas within India. Due its high free fatty acid content, the crude Jatropha Curcas oil was pro...

Jatropha curcas is widely cultivated in Thailand, the seeds of which yield high quality oil used for biodiesel production. Toxicity due to ingestion of Jatropha curcas has become more common among children due to the close proximity between cultivation and residential areas. We report 10 calls made over a 40-month period to the Siriraj Poison Control Center involving 75 children ages 2-14 years...

91 10.4155/BFS.09.4 © 2010 Future Science Ltd Jatropha curcas L. (further referred to as Jatropha) is a rapidly emerging biofuel crop currently attracting a lot of interest and investments [1]. This stem-succulent [2] deciduous tree or shrub produces seeds rich in toxic oil (27–40% [3]). The oil can be extracted easily with techniques of different sophistication levels [4,5]. The crude Jatropha...

Recently, bio-based oil was used as industrial lubricant due to the increasing consideration on environment effect and health issues and in order to replace the usage of petroleum-based oil. The modified vegetable oil exhibit excellent lubrication and tribological performances when compared to the petroleum-based oil. In this study, the crude jatropha oil was modified via chemical modification ...

Jatropha curcas belongs to the family Euphorbiaceae and is distributed in many tropical and subtropical countries. The toxicity of the whole seed Jatropha curcas has been known for a long time. Jatropha plant is used as a source of biodiesel. In addition to being a source of oil, Jatropha also provides seed-cake and is a by-product of oil extraction that serves as a highly nutritious and econom...

BACKGROUND Temporal and spatial expression of fatty acid and lipid biosynthetic genes are associated with the accumulation of storage lipids in the seeds of oil plants. In jatropha (Jatropha curcas L.), a potential biofuel plant, the storage lipids are mainly synthesized and accumulated in the endosperm of seeds. Although the fatty acid and lipid biosynthetic genes in jatropha have been identif...