Country: INDIA
Source: Biomass Magazine
By Lisa Gibson
Posted April 8, 2010, at 11:02 a.m. CST
A 207.5-acre jatropha project in India aims to develop optimal growing and harvesting techniques for the oil-bearing crop, along with favorable characteristics such as frost tolerance and growth with less input.
General Motors Co. and the U.S. DOE have teamed up for the five-year project, enlisting help from the Central Salt & Marine Chemicals Research Institute, an India-based research lab of the Indian Government’s Council for Scientific and Industrial Research, Ministry of Science & Technology. The CSMCRI will manage the three plots, two in Bhavngar and one near GM’s India car manufacturing plant in Kalol. GM declined to disclose a project cost, but said it is funded jointly by GM and the DOE.
Jatropha oil is ideal for biodiesel production, as it has high oil content, can be grown on marginal lands and is cheaper than soy beans, which are commonly used to make biodiesel. “We are actually diesel short,” said Candace Wheeler, GM technical fellow and biofuel lead at the company’s Global Energy Systems Center. “We really need a good replacement for diesel as well as ethanol, which is a good replacement for gasoline.”
The project will focus on jatropha species development as well as agronomics. “It grows, but no one’s tried to cultivate it and plant it,” Wheeler said. Research will determine if it’s better to begin in a nursery before planting the shrubs in plots, how far apart shrubs should be planted, and much more, she said. “We certainly want to understand better how to grow the crops.