Waterland Supplies Jatropha Oil to EU Airline Industry

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Global Bioenergy Industry News

Wednesday, July 07, 2010

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Waterland Supplies Jatropha Oil to EU Airline Industry

INDONESIA - Waterland supply its Jatropha Oil for use as feedstock for aviation fuel.

Waterland International signed a Memorandum Of Understanding with a leading supplier of biofuels for the aviation industry.

Waterland will be making its first delivery of Jatropha Oil for use as feedstock for aviation fuel to the EU Airline Industry this week.

The Agreement stipulates a long term take off agreement for Waterland’s Jatropha oil which is produced from the plantations it oversees in Central Java, Indonesia.

The interest in Waterland’s jatropha plantations from aviation companies has led the Company to begin planning a new oil expelling and purification centre at Kedu Selatan and another at Cilicap, Indonesia which will allow for further commercial quantities of Jatropha Oil to be shipped to the airline industry, and after further refining to be used as jet fuel.

Jatropha jet fuel has a lower freezing point and demonstrated higher energy density per unit mass than typical jet fuel, enabling airplanes to travel farther using less fuel.

For all of the test flights, the blended biofuel displayed no adverse effects on any of the aircraft systems.

Jatropha oil, when refined has almost exactly the same chemical properties as the Jet-A1 fuel that currently powers the commercial aviation industry.

According to Boeing test data, Jatropha based jet fuel exceeds fuel performance requirements, requires no change to airplanes or engines, requires no change to infrastructure, and can be mixed or alternated with jet fuel.

Not all Jatropha oil is created equal and, therefore, only oil that meets stringent quality specifications can be used in the aviation industry.

“I'm happy to report that our Jatropha oil is of the highest quality and the fact that we have been chosen as a preferred supplier to the aviation industry proves this” said Waterland CEO, Dr. Nolten.

Waterland’s Jatropha Oil is produced to the exact FFA specification level and passes the purity test for use as aviation fuel.

“Our secret is the quality management system we have implemented which combines expert agronomic knowledge in the growing and picking process of the Jatropha plants as well as a controlled environment for processing the fruits from the plant. In addition, we have engineers from Holland overseeing our oil expelling process” said CEO Dr. Nolten.

Producing high quality Jatropha oil is dependent on the correct timing of the Jatropha’s harvest as this determines the chemical composition of the oil.

Waterland constantly monitors farmers’ harvest results for proper fruit ripening and continually holds training sessions for farmers on its plantations.

In addition, “the processing of the Jatropha fruit, when not managed properly causes the oil to have a high percentage of (FFA) Free Fatty Acids which result in oil which has a very short shelf life as well as other impurities” stated Waterland CEO, Dr. Nolten

In order to continue to supply the aviation industry with high quality jatropha oil Waterland is in the process of obtaining building permits to build a new oil expelling and purification center at Kedu Selatan and another at Cilicap, Central Java, Indonesia.