Gov't Acquires Jathropa Expeller

PNOC-AFC President and Chief Executive Officer Peter Anthony Abaya said the set of equipment bought included a small scale jathropa expeller, decorticator, biomass feed boiler/steam, steam kettle, and filter press. The expeller can process around 120 kilograms of jathropa seeds per hour.

The Department of Science and Technology (DOST) co-funded the purchase of the equipment.

"In addition, the construction of a Jatropha Processing Facility at the DOST – where the processing of the jatropha fruit, expelling of the seeds, purification of the oil, and transesterification will be done for the biofuels production – is set to be completed before the year ends. Aside from this, a Biofuel Testing and Analytical Facility will be put up also at the DOST for laboratory analysis of major parameters needed for the evaluation of biofuels production in the country," added Abaya in a PNOC-AFC website news release.

The government's alternative fuel program is on track with General Santos farmers who are now reaping additional income from their jatropha plantations.

An example is the two-hectare nursery and plantation of the family of Datu Sabel Utap in Purok Lanton, Barangay Apopong here who now gets P35 per kilo of jatropha seeds that they sell to the PNOC-AFC.

After signing Republic Act 9367 (R.A.) or the Biofuels Act of 2006 last January, President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo has directed the PNOC-AFC to spearhead the biofuels project with the corporation considering jatropha curcas, locally known as tuba-tuba, as the most viable feedstock for biodiesel production.

Jatropha curcas has been found to have the best potential for biodiesel having a yield of up to 40 per cent of oil from its seed.

Based on this estimate, a plantation of some 2,000-2,500 jatropha plants per hectare could yield up to five tons of seeds or an equivalent of about 3,000 litres of biodiesel which is now popular in Europe as an additive to petrochemical fuel.

The jatropha tree starts yielding a good amount of seeds from the second year onwards, and continues for some 40 years.

Undemanding in soil type, the drought- and pest-resistant jatropha tree can be planted almost anywhere particularly in non-agriculture areas and thus will not to compete with the food, production program of the government.

In her SONA last year, the President supported jatropha production as an alternative and cleaner fuel to lessen the country's dependence on imported fossil fuel, and at the same time contribute to the poverty alleviation efforts in the countryside by providing additional income for growers.

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