Cambodia Starts Jatropha BioDiesel Production
Jatropha & Jatropha Seeds
In Cambodia the Jatropha plant is a native species. It can grow without pesticides and fertilizers and it is drought tolerant.
Jacam Energy Co., a joint venture between Cambodia and Japan, will begin proof of concept scale production of jatropha oil in October, raising production to an expected 5,000 liters per day for local consumption.
Jatropha can be used to make biodiesel and could be used to meet demands in rural electricity, river ferries and agricultural and construction machinery, said Chheuy Sophors, president of NCT Jacam.
The company began operations in August, with an investment of $400,000 in a factory in Kampong Speu province, following three years of experimentation. However, the company does not have its own jatropha plantation and would require 5,000 tons of the plant per year. Some 3 kilograms to 4 kilograms of jatropha are required for 1 liter of jatropha oil.
The oil can be bought for less than $1, per liter, equal to the current price of petroleum, but it lasts longer. It can be used by any machinery that uses petroleum. Cambodia already produces bio-ethanol from cassava, which can be mixed with gasoline.
“If we can produce [jatropha oil], especially to supply rural areas, first of all, our people will have employment and our country won’t need to import oil from outside,” said Sath Samy, secretary of state for the Ministry of Mines and Energy. “Or at least we can reduce imports, as we produce [oil] from jatropha.”
Jatropha is grown in many Asian countries, supplying markets in Europe and the US, where it has become popular as a green product helping reduce global warming.
However, in Cambodia, it is not grown in massive amounts and is generally only found growing along fences outside people’s homes.
More: Khmer News
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October 13th, 2009 at 4:32 pm
i will like to join hands with you, to help promote JATROPHA for bio diesel. fro the present and next generation. please, help me with more information about the jatropha and register me as one of your members, so that, i will increase my knowledge on JATROPHA
October 20th, 2009 at 12:11 pm
i am doing M.sc biotechnology in utkal university,bhubaneswar,orissa.i m very much intersted in this topic.jatropha cultivation and production of biodiesel is a future prospective of biodiesel.so i want to join with you as a member.plz help me.
October 26th, 2009 at 5:49 am
i use Biodiesel on my car. i think everyone should use biodiesel so that each one can at least contribute to the environment.
December 4th, 2009 at 11:50 am
Jatropha is seen by many as the perfect biodiesel crop as it grows well on marginal land and requires little input and management to give good oil yield.A joint venture between Cambodia and Japan in jatropha biodiesel production will help promote the prospects of this emerging green fuel.
The interesting news from this project it will create more green jobs for the rural population. The dependence on fossil fuels will be reduced bringing greater control and security on fuel supply.
Increased energy demand and cost, monetarization of greenhouse gas balance, increase in demand for an improvement of soil and lands, increased need for rural incomes, potential of intercropping, interest of international cooperation in large scale successful projects in this field are the factors which suggests Jatropha curcas potential to become one of the world’s key energy crops.
More research and development is required to commercialize this crop and See our report on Jatropha here http://www.biozio.com/ref/report/jat/jatropha_biodiesel.html
December 15th, 2009 at 4:16 pm
sir
i am happy to see Cambodia gets progress in Jatropha ..where we failed in Southern parts of Tamilnadu.
Jatropha is not taken seriuosly by Indian govts …
but we are forced to change to Bamboo planataions
Jatropha yield is less and the taxic effects are not studies properly
S.a.alagarsamy
India
February 25th, 2010 at 3:46 am
I really appreciate u for your commitments to my country, Cambodia.
Cambodia also has potential in Rubber tree farm which is its seed can be extracted to be biodiesel. And i amgoing to do research on this topic of Rubber seed oil application to Diesel DI engine.
If you have more information about this, please kindly send me those inf. which is useful for my research.
Thanks
Ratnak