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Bio - Fuels
 Biodiesel project of SUTRA
Growing Biofuel
Pongamia Plantation
Carbon Credits
Bio Diesel Project of SUTRA
| Prof. U Shrinivasa's SuTRA is demonstrating the power and simplicity of straight vegetable fuel oils. |
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In 2001 when GoodNewsIndia reported on the work of Prof. Udipi Shrinivasa and his
organisation SuTRA, at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, he had already proven
the idea of using straight vegetable oils [SVO] as diesel engine fuels. He had
demonstrated over a 40 square kilometer area that SVO can deliver power to homes and
farms. How was this promise going to be taken to an India out there, we had wondered.
The Professor however, had no doubts: "It will happen, Sir," he had said softly. He is
a man who knows his India. Two years on, he is proving right. Several layers below the
one that main media operates at and reports to you, is an India that is solving
problems, bettering lives, adding value. It is the layer at which people are left to
their own devices. They have no lobby, not much money, no choices like emigration, but they
have no readiness to surrender either. They have their commitment to this land.
And --believe it or not-- they have several civil servants at this layer who are helpful in
nature, eager to innovate, and therefore willing to back promising ideas. It is from here
that the SVO genie will rise and pierce the layers above it. The Professor will then be a
media darling. The media --poor thing-- will have much to catch up with and report on.
Tribal energy:
It is instructive to learn how these nether layers function. Let us follow this story: Joint Forest
Management [JFM] had been in trial mode since 1994 in Andhra Pradesh [AP]. Its novelty
was to co-opt forests' natural people -- the tribals -- as guards rather than treat
them as intruders. If they were allowed to sustainably forage the forests for their
livelihood, they might be persuaded to zealously guard it. They and not the forest
officers would then manage the forests. The World Bank was funding JFM and the
programme in AP was headed by Mr. S D Mukherjee, who had pioneered the idea in
Bengal. GoodNewsIndia had featured this experiment in April,2002.
An Indian officer in the World Bank, Dr Emmanuel D'Silva heard of Professor
Shrinivasa's work. He arrived in Bangalore rather excitedly. Soon a small team left
for the forests in Adilabad, AP, on the border with Maharashtra. The Professor and
his lieutenant Mr. A R Nayeem from SuTRA and Dr D'Silva from the Bank were joined by
Mr Mukherjee and Mr Navin Mittal of the Integrated Tribal Development Agency [ITDA]
in Utnoor. [ Mittal deserves to be especially noted. He had graduated from the IIT
with a Gold Medal but then did an unusual thing: instead of flying out to the USA for
a charmed life, he chose the IAS as the more meaningful option in life.]
Bettering the lives of the tribals was Mittal's mandate. Soon it became clear
to the team what a hard one that is. Listen to Nayeem: "Till Utnoor it was familiar
India. But the last 30 km to Chalbardi --a Ghond tribal hamlet of 21 homes-- was
another India. Our Jeep crawled over a rock strewn alignment called a road. We walked a
part of the way. It is an experience never to be forgotten as the sole reality for many Indians."
At Chalbardi they found a tribe of Indian citizens who were grim faced about
electricity. They had known it only on their occasional travels out of the woods and had
given up hopes of it ever arriving in their village. When the Professor talked of bringing it
to their homes in six months, they wearily looked away. When he said that they could
pay for it with the abundant Pongamia [Karanji in Hindi, Pongam in Tamil and Honge in
Kannada. It is a.k.a Indian Beech] seeds strewn on the forest floor they gazed at him incredulous. He then did the wise thing: he invited them to Kaggenahalli in Kunigal Taluk, Karnataka to see the SuTRA demonstration project. Govinda Rao of Chalbardi, soon led a small curious band.
The Professor marvels: "They made their visit in April, 2001. And they caught the bug. When we went back to Chalbardi two months later, a nursery of 20,000 Pongamia saplings greeted us. Govinda Rao was hustling us: "We can give you the seeds for ever-- when is electricity coming?"
Lab to land:
If the SuTRA demo in Karnataka was the laboratory that proved the idea, Chalbardi will earn its place as the village that took the idea to an India out there. Two off-the-shelf gensets of 7.5 kva each were installed in a hut. The hamlet was wired. Karanji oil engines powered a decorticator and an oil mill. And in June, 2001, right in the middle of a forest, with no pylons, no pollution, no down-time and no bills to pay, darkness made way to light. People whooped in joy. Children raced round and round. And were delightedly, sternly told that it was time for them to sit down and spend some time learning. This self sustaining miracle cost just Rs.500,000 [$10,000].
This is India at its best. Take a pause and review the story so far. We see no struggle, no acrimony, no blaming. The state cannot wire electricity to India's inaccessible terrains. [Most countries in the world don't, either.] So a problem remains unsolved. Then an academic brings his knowledge to bear on it. Dedicated bureaucrats seek him out. At least in AP and quite a few other states politicians back the civil servants. State's funds are made available. People are shown how they can do it themselves. India's hardy folk take it from there. And soon as they get a break, they urge their children to learning. From where then, comes the urge to portray this social system as venal and moribund? Unless of course, it is from the compulsions of a commerce to fill newsprint and airtime.
Within days of Chalbardi being electrified, villages within miles were --in a manner speaking-- electrified too: they wanted their own power plants. In the months since mid- 2001, 10 forest villages in Adilabad have followed the Chalbardi model. The SuTRA team is deeply involved in disseminating the idea of SVO as fuel alternatives. It is working with people and learning from them. It has near enough perfected a standard format. Here is the pattern, give or take a few details. The gensets are uniformly 7.5 kva of Kirloskar make with an eye on standardisation. Power is supplied for three hours after dusk. Each household pays Rs.5 per month [--that is about $ 0.10 !] plus, 300 kg per year of shelled Pongamia seeds. These seeds they gather from the forest floor, bring home, shell and deliver, the while committed to the sustainability of their forest world. The power plant is run profitably with the sale of excess oil and all of the oil cake. Mr N. Sridhar IAS, the current ITDA project officer in Utnoor is a great enthusiast for the idea taking it further down the road.
New leaders, technicians and jobs have sprung up. In the village of Powerguda the formidable Ms. Subhadra Bai leads a women's self help group [SHG] that runs a no-nonsense oil mill business. Gatherers are paid Rs.5/ kg of shelled seeds. The SHG mills and markets 3000 litres per month at Rs.20 per litre. There is a huge waiting list and people come from far. Five more expellers have come up. Govinda Rao is a wandering minstrel spreading word of the SVO miracle. Young lads have become adept at repairing and maintaining all equipment. Children are going up the learning curve. The Ghonds have begun to look at their ancient habitat with renewed love.
Other streams:
Southern and coastal AP have swung into action. Chittoor, Vijayanagaram, Vishakapatnam, Prakasam Srikakulam are all names that are lighting up on the SVO map. Members of the VELUGU self-help scheme have coined a slogan : "mana noone, mana vidyut" [My seeds, my electricity]. Under the Karnataka Watershed Development Agency [KAWAD] 10 oil mills run by women SHG have come up. They are in Bijapur, Bellary and Chitradurga districts of Karnataka. They cost Rs.350,000 each and generate revenue of Rs.600 to Rs.800 a day, out of which the SHG pay back the loans. Dr Vidya Swamy at SuTRA, Bangalore is systematically developing best nursery parctices and trying out ways to train grafted trees into short bushes. She also reaches out to women SHGs and explains profitable rural technologies so that with SVO at the centre, an integrated plan can develop.
In under five years of Prof Shrinivasa demonstrating the concept, the idea has begun to deliver results and make hard economic sense. It has probably had the fastest run from lab to land for any idea in India. Indian Railways is moving ahead to use SVO as a blend with diesel. It is India's largest consumer of diesel; so it makes sense for them to look at SVO. The Government has woken up to the potential and there is talk that the Prime Minister is also smitten by it. Prof. Shrinivasa is the convener of the committee set up to draft a National Biodiesel Policy. The venerable BBC came calling recently to record this emerging success story.
In what may turn out to be a turning point for the SVO movement, a World War 2 vintage jeep in the Adilabad forest area is about to be modified to run on Karanji oil. With start-stop vehicle engines, it is better to have two tanks with a switch: diesel to start on, SVO to run on and diesel again before stopping. The jeep as a 4 wheel drive is the work-horse of the Indian countryside. They are sturdy and cheap to buy, but diesel costs are a killer. If SVO make a difference here, the impact on rural transportation, load carrying and job generation will be immense.
The Professor's vision is broad: "There is room for everyone in this new economy. Small groups running nurseries, forest folk gathering seeds, small land holders planting for SVO, big corporations farming hundreds of acres, the state developing wastelands, organic farmers using the oil cake as manure, national security strategists factoring SVO in, activists into greening of India and watchdogs battling pollution. All these can come in and find win-win solutions. The market is virtually infinite. After all our oil import bill is $ 6 billion a year-- and growing."
Indians everywhere are beginning to get hooked by the idea. It's an emerging drama you want to be a part of. It urges you to find a role for yourself. For example, the alumni of the IIT-Madras batch of 1969 have decided to gift an oil milling plant to a women's SHG in Thally in Tamil Nadu. It was their way to pay back. The plant costs Rs.350,000. The 180 alumnus have chipped in. That Prof. Shrinivasa is an IIT-69 alumnus is a matter of small detail.
SuTRA [Sustainable Transformation of Rural Areas]
Dept. of Mech. Engg.
Indian Institute of Science,
Bangalore 560 012, India
Prof. Udipi Shrinivasa
Chief Programme Officer
[udipi@mecheng.iisc.ernet.in]
Mr A R Nayeem
Manager
[nayeem@mecheng.iisc.ernet.in]
Phones:(+91) (80) 360 2435/ 360 0080 / 360 2993 / 360 8635;
Mobile: 98457 29295
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SVO, biodiesels, biofuels etc
The Ghond tribe we met in the main story are using straight vegetable oil or SVO. This is oil milled, nominally filtered and used straight in an engine. A purist would be offended by the use of the term 'biodiesel' for this. But it is early days yet in India and 'biodiesel' is a rather evocative name that catches attention. But let us get some facts laid out. In a warm country like India, use of SVO in applications like gensets will cause no harm. In critical applications like running jeeps, tractors etc however it may be wise to use a two tank system, as briefly described in the article. In the West, the scene is quite different. The weather is often cold, cooking oil is thrown away after one use and vehicles are over-powered. Biodiesels address all the three situations. Making biodiesel is no rocket science. Many make them at home and the process -- called 'transesterification' -- removes many components from the SVO and renders them a "methyl ester". For those with more interest in the arcana of biodiesel chemistry, the two good pages to visit are at veggievan.org and journeytoforever.org. Remember however that both SVO and biodiesels are pure renewable fuels. A day may come in India too -- when the SVO idea has caught on -- when small rural businesses will come up offering technically true 'biodiesels' for say, high way trucks. Returning now to SVO, there are about 20 species of trees whose seeds will yield acceptable SVO. Of these, Pongamia has many advantages and these are described in GoodNewsIndia's earlier story on the same subject. Neem oil too will do well as an SVO but it is more valuable as a pesticde and sells for about Rs.50 a litre. Mahua is good as well but it is cooking grade and in India that is priority use. Jatropha [-- or Ratanjyot in Hindi] is emerging as a popular SVO now. It is a shrub that begins to yield in 6 months though its life is only 15 years. But Jatropha oil is lighter than Pongamia oil and in Erode, Tamil Nadu one gentleman at least rides his diesel Bullet motorcycle fed entirely on Jatropha oil.
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Growing Biofuel
A BIODIESEL ENTREPRENEUR'S CHECKLIST FOR ANYONE CONSIDERING
ENTERING THIS INFANT INDUSTRY
by
Louis Strydom
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Access to year-round water can greatly
increase yields of biodiesel feedstock
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Editor's
Note: Growing biofuel, whether it's biodiesel or bioethanol, whether it's Jatropha
or sugar cane, is not easy. Like many emerging clean technologies, biofuel
production is a challenging, knowledge-intensive enterprise in an emerging
industry. There are no guarantees of success.
This
article by biodiesel entrepreneur Louis Strydom, who is endeavoring to
establish a biodiesel plantation and refinery on a massive scale in
Kenya, serves
as a sobering reminder of how many factors have to be aligned before biodiesel
fuel moves from dream to reality. Ultimately, biodiesel plantations have to be
profitable, and the requirements for success are myriad.
It's
important to distinguish between large-scale commercial biofuel growing and
refining, versus biofuel as a supplemental crop, pursued profitably on a small
scale by farmers around the world, who see this crop as a means for themselves
and others in their locale to become energy independent. Subsistence biofuel
growing and refining is a viable economic model - and a very interesting one -
but very different from the one examined here.
For
biodiesel to become a measurable supplement to petrodiesel on the world
markets, then sceptical analysis of its financial and operational viability
will have to be performed on every large-scale undertaking - and from that
perspective, this article is required reading.
Ed "Redwood" Ring
My experience on projects concerning biodiesel perennial crops and subsequent
refineries began a few years ago when I was approached to raise funds for a
biodiesel project.
It turned out
that particular project was poorly planned and it was therefore not viable for
me to proceed on it. In 2005 a client of mine was investigating the initial
viability of promoting a Biodiesel project in Kenya,
East Africa. The initial advisors he had never
focused on the fundamentals of the project and thus it never got off the
ground. I was then approached to develop this project into a bankable
undertaking. This has required much research and in the process we have been in
discussions with a variety of parties and consultants (including from India
, Australia,
Africa, Europe, UK and the USA) on this
and other biodiesel projects. What has become clear over this period was that:
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Abundant land and willing investors are only part of the
successful equation to create a viable biodiesel enterprise
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Not all
entities have considered their undertakings in detail, although most portray
themselves as experts, which has resulted in some cases in a serious lack of
sound business approaches to make their existing or intended projects viable;
Some of
these parties have actually managed to raise millions of dollars on their
projects without having a sound business plan and viable business structure to
make their projects successful, and yet investors seemed willing to provide
funds to these undertakings.
This article
looks at a specific segment of the biodiesel market and based on our
experiences investigates some of the basic requirements to promote a successful
project within this market segment. The article does however not cover issues
pertaining to crops and other input alternatives (such as recycled oils) in
first world countries, which have significantly different market dynamics.
For the purposes
of this article the market segment in question is the development of a
biodiesel project that covers both the agricultural input for biodiesel
production (crops) as well as the refining thereof.
General
Criteria for a Viable Biofuel Operation:
Not Dependent on Subsidies: The project
should be sufficiently viable not to require any kind of subsidies, thus not
requiring government support to keep the projects afloat. All subsidies come
from the consumer at the end of the day and thus the more viable the project
can be without subsidies the more the benefit to governments and their
citizens. There is however one caveat, "Carbon Credits" as provided
under the Kyoto protocol can initially enhance the viability and provide a sufficient return on
investment on the project so as to attract investors.
Vertical Integration of Farms and Refinery:
The project must have primary control over the crop feedstock. This results in
a more controllable cost scenario for the feedstock and thus the project can be
competitive against petro diesel at lower petro diesel prices.
Location in Developing Nation: The reason
for this is that land and labor are significantly cheaper which reduces both
capital and working costs.
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More than 50% of the vast continent
of Africa may support biofuel crops
But success depends on many factors
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Large Scale: The project must be done on an
economy of scale in order to attract appropriate investors. Given the scale of
the project and the commercial objectives, mechanization of the project is
required as far as cost-benefit analysis allows. Out-grower schemes can however
be added as a secondary production feedstock and to enhance corporate
responsibility and job creation. Further, even with mechanization, a
significant number of employment opportunities will be created.
Perennial Crop: The project must have a
perennial crop. This increases the initial input cost, but thereafter the
annual costs significantly decrease as the crop does not have to be replanted
annually and therefore only maintenance costs are incurred.
Local Market for Biofuel Sales: The primary
output - Biodiesel - must be sold in the country it is produced. The reason for
this is because the project business model is based on becoming a low-cost
leader, thus the main objective is to keep operational costs as low as
possible. This is done to enhance the shareholders return and also aims to
deliver a substitute to petro diesel that can be competitive at the same prices
as petro diesel world market prices. Given the typical location of such
projects in rural areas, logistics are often difficult in terms of land and sea
transport to get the product to an alternative end market.
In order to cover some of the basic requirements necessary for the evaluation of a biodiesel
project within this framework, let us consider the particular project we are
working on in Kenya.
Although this project is still in the due diligence phase, we believe that some
of our experiences may be of benefit to promoters of similar project,
financiers and investors.
Our project is located along a perennial river on land currently not being used for commercial
purposes. The project size is 150,000 acres (~60,000 hectares), with land being
leased from a state owned enterprise. The crop we have selected is Jatropha
Curcas and the refinery will be onsite. It is interesting to note that there
are quite a few international companies that intend to use this crop as their
main feedstock. It is particularly in this regard that we have encountered some
companies that do not fully consider all the requirements to make a project
work using this feedstock.
Our approach has been that a viable biodiesel operation will require a number of areas of
expertise, and we have sought to secure the partnership and or services of some
of the leading international experts in each particular field of specialization
with appropriate management structures to support the successful development of
the project. Apparently, there are companies that do not consider it pertinent
to follow such a "best-of-breed" philosophy to provide a suitable
turnkey solution to their projects.
It
should be further noted that although Jatropha Curcas is a crop touted by many
parties as the solution to biodiesel feedstock, there is not a significant
amount of reliable scientific data on the crop in terms of commercial
application.
Most of the current reliable data covers the use of the crop on marginal land and preliminary
research into long term commercial viability. A lot of research is of course
being done in terms of commercial use but from a scientific perspective we have
not yet encountered proven data for commercial application on issues such as
crop yields, optimal phenotype selection, etc. This of course does not mean
that Jatropha Curcas is not a viable crop, it does however mean that one should
be diligent when evaluating the crop's potential in a specific area for
commercial cultivation. It also means that although it is very reasonable to
expect significant crop yields from Jatropha Curcas per hectare, it is
imperative to ensure that the botanical and agricultural assumptions surrounding
the projected crop yield are sound.
Commercial
Viability of a Jatropha Plantation
Detailed Checklist:
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Potential biodiesel plantations can't just look good
from the air - they also have to be close to markets
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Site Accessibility: In terms of being
readily accessible for all input and logistics factors required for production
as well as getting the end products to market at the lowest cost. We have
encountered a number of projects where the promoters focus on the land that is
available and yet do not consider the cost of accessing the site as well as
getting the end products to market. If the logistic costs are not minimized
over the long term then there is a material risk that the biodiesel output will
not be competitive against petro diesel. We have found some projects which seek
to produce and market the biodiesel in the production country as well as certain
refineries who seek to purchase either crude Jatropha Curcas oil or refined oil
to sometimes not analyze the issue of logistics to market sufficiently.
Particularly, from the perspective that in-country the transport costs to a
credible market can affect the return on investment and that for export the
logistics of transporting the product from site to harbor and then off-shore
can adversely affect a project.
Multiple Harvests per Year: In terms of
producing high crop yields per hectare, and besides the soil requirements, it
is necessary to get three harvests per year. This allows for a reasonable
estimate - subject to soil quality, nutrient and fertilizer application, water
application and macro and micro-environmental variables - of 10 tons per hectare.
In order to achieve this a relatively low rainfall area is required (~500 mm)
with a limited and relatively short rainy season, which allows for irrigation
as the main source of nutrient and water provision and thus sufficient crop
control to enable three controlled harvests per year. We have found hugely
varying estimates of crop yield, and often with very little scientific basis
therefore.
Phenotype Selection: Although there is
relatively limited supply of scientific data in this field for Jatropha Curcas,
it is still crucial to select the best available phenotype given the data
available. Furthermore, research and development facilities for the project is
critical to ensure the best possible phenotype can be developed. Jatropha
Curcas provides a major advantage in that it can be grafted and thus as optimal
phenotypes are developed these can be brought into production in a relative
short space of time.
Land Preparation, Nursery and Planting: On
smaller scale projects this of course does not have such a major impact but on
large scale plantations this area plays a significant role. The main driver
being that the quicker the crop can be planted and growing the quicker a return
can be realized to the investors. A detailed cost-benefit analysis therefore
needs to be done with the main focus being on cultivating and planting the
seedlings in as short as possible time. Mechanization of the process as far as
possible greatly enhances the success of this component. During the analysis we
found some companies do not consider this factor adequately. Furthermore, there
appears to only be a limited amount of companies/projects that include detailed
forestry assessment of the soil preparation (including ripping to ensure better
root establishment) and fire risk management.
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The dry season in
Kenya, near the site of the
author's proposed biodiesel plantation and refinery
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Irrigation: In our analysis we found that
drip irrigation is the most optimal solution. Without controlled water
application some of the projections on crop yield published in the media should
be considered very critically as it is uncertain if there is proven a scientific
basis for these projections. Drip irrigation does significantly increase
project capital costs initially, but it addressed a number of areas required
for a successful feedstock production. Scientific application of drip
irrigation allows for short harvest production periods. This is very pertinent
to the harvesting process which is discussed later on, without a controlled
harvesting period where the seeds ripen in a short time the cost of harvesting
and mechanization of this process is adversely affected.
Climate: Given a relatively low rainfall
with a short rainy season it enables the harvests to be controlled, allowing
for 3 harvests per year. If the water application for the crops is not
controlled, it is not possible to control the harvest production pattern and
thus the crop yield will be materially affected.
Application of Nutrients and Insecticides:
Some nutrients and insecticides can be applied through the drip irrigation
system thus reducing amount of labor required and the logistics surrounding the
management of labor to apply these manually.
Plantation Management: It is important to appreciate
that on a large scale Jatropha Curcas a plantation is effectively created. It
is therefore necessary to bring to the project plantation management expertise.
We have to date found only few projects that have considered this issue, or
have credible expertise in-house in this area.
Harvesting: This is a critical element to
the project. First, if an effective harvesting process is not in place the
quality of the crop will deteriorate. Jatropha Curcas seeds build up Free Fatty
Acids (FFA) once they have ripened and lie on the ground. Fortunately refining
technology has improved to handle high amounts of FFA but nevertheless the
better the quality of the harvested crop the better and more efficient the
refining process. Second, if grown on a commercial scale the labor requirements
without mechanized harvesting can be very large and the time to complete the
harvesting process ineffective. It is therefore necessary to mechanize the
process as far as possible - subject of course to cost-benefit analysis. We
have found projects to cover this component insufficiently to the extent that
we have seen some very large plantations underway without due consideration of
the harvesting factor. Our approach has been to look to expertise in other
harvesting industries where expertise is available that can deal with the
mechanized harvesting of the Jatropha Curcas crop.
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Jatropha seedlings ready to plant
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Processing of Crop/Refining: There are a
number of excellent companies who have developed suitable processes to deal
with the turn-key refining process of Jatropha Curcas seeds. Two excellent
companies who can supply equipment for large-scale refining are Lurgi AG and Energia. From the Jatropha Curcas
perspective however two areas that do require a specific focus are fertilizer
and biogas. On fertilizer it is necessary to do a detailed cost-benefit
analysis to determine if the conversion of the expelled residue from the
refining process can be viably sold as fertilizer. Of particular note is
considering the transportation costs of the fertilizer and the determination of
a suitable market given these costs. This is of particular importance given
that the specific fertilizer requirements, in terms of composition and volume,
of the country in which the crop is produced may not suit the type of
fertilizer being produced and export and transport costs of the fertilizer do
not make sales to off-shore markets viable. In our case we found it more
productive to focus efforts on the development of biogas processing
capabilities to generate electricity from the expelled Jatropha Curcas residue.
There does not however appear to be an established industry norm and these
factors are project specific.
Carbon Credits: There are a number of
consultancies who will advise and structure application for all carbon credit
application covering Carbon Emission reductions, Clean Device Mechanisms,
Carbon Sinks, etc. Areas for consideration regarding Jatropha Curcas with our
project context include that in some cases there are not established protocols
for the applications under the Kyoto protocol such as Carbon Sink applications. It is therefore better to separate
the various areas where application can be made for Carbon Credits into
separate submissions thus increasing the overall possibility of some of the
applications being successful and not possibly being held up by an overall approval
under one submission. Further, at this stage it is uncertain for how long the
Carbon Credit markets will continue to be in existence and in what form and to
this extent caution should be applied to the extent to which these potential
cash flows are included in the financial projections.
Strategy Implementation & Monitoring:
Various expert companies are required to bring sufficient expertise to the
project as described in this article to ensure reaching commercial viability.
Most of these companies will at least be required to enter into technical
support agreements if not into turn-key management contracts for certain
components. This will inadvertently result in varying labor and management
practices for certain components of the project. It is therefore necessary to
ensure that sufficient overall strategy implementation and monitoring expertise
is available in-house, or brought in externally. From my interaction with a
number of companies seeking to participate in this particular market sector it
seems that a number of future projects seem to neglect this component. A number
of future projects and established companies involved in similar projects
appear not to have applied the process at all. This typically results in
declining investor confidence and lower return for investors due to either the
changing of objectives due to an inappropriate initial business model or to due
to poor communication and remedial action resultant from non or poor
achievement of initial strategic objectives.
This article is
not intended to cover all issues relating to a Jatropha Curcas or similar crop
plantation and refinery project. It does however seek to share some of the
experiences we have encountered on our project and some of the weaknesses we
have detected in other similar projects. To this extent, the article seeks to
provide a basic checklist of some of the key areas to address when considering
such a project either from a development or a financial perspective.
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About the Author: Louis Strydom is an expert in new venture creation and project
finance with wide experience on projects in the developing world. One of Louis'
main projects for the last year has been conducting a pre-feasibility study and
promotion of a 230,000 acre site for a Jatropha plantation and biodiesel
refinery in Kenya. Previously he was Senior Vice President of Project Finance at Decillion -
a company listed on the Johannesburg
Stock Exchange. Other positions included Senior Economist managing the Credit
Policy and Risk Management division of the Export Credit Insurance
Corporation of South Africa. Prior to that he was a
Director with Triumvirate responsible for Marketing and Consulting on Crisis
Management. Louis also has extensive experience in short term insurance with
American Insurance Group on fire/casualty risks, niche products and political
risks in Africa, Europe, the Middle East, UK and USA.
Pongamia Plantation
- Uses
- Folk
Medicine
- Chemistry
- Description
- Germplasm
- Distribution
- Ecology
- Cultivation
- Harvesting
- Yields
and Economics
- Energy
- Biotic
Factors
- References
The pongam tree is cultivated for two purposes:
(1) as an ornamental in gardens and along avenues and roadsides, for its
fragrant Wisteria-like flowers, and (2) as a host plant for lac insects. It is
appreciated as an ornamental throughout coastal India and all of Polynesia.
Well-decomposed flowers are used by gardeners as compost for plants requiring
rich nutrients. In the Philippines the bark is used for making strings and
ropes. The bark also yields a black gum that is used to treat wounds caused by
poisonous fish. In wet areas of the tropics the leaves serve as green manure and
as fodder. The black malodorous roots contain a potent fish-stupefying
principle. In primitive areas of Malaysia and India root extracts are applied to
abscesses; other plant parts, especially crushed seeds and leaves are regarded
as having antiseptic properties. The seeds contain pongam oil, a bitter, red
brown, thick, non-drying, nonedible oil, 2736% by weight, which is used for
tanning leather, soap, as a liniment to treat scabies, herpes, and rheumatism
and as an illuminating oil (Burkill, 1966). Also used for lubrication and
indigenous medicine. Pongam oil showed inhibitory effects on Bacillus
anthracis, Bacillus mycoides, Bacillus pulilus, Escherichia coli, Pseudomonas
mangiferae, Salmonella typhi, Sarcina lutea, Staphylococcus albus,
Staphylococcus aureus, and Xanthomonas campestris, but did not
inhibit Shigella sp. (Chaurasia and Jain, 1978). The oil has a high
content of triglycerides, and its disagreeable taste and odor are due to bitter
flavonoid constituents, pongamiin and karanjin. The wood is yellowish white,
coarse, hard, and beautifully grained, but is not durable. Use of the wood is
limited to cabinetmaking, cart wheels, posts, and fuel (Allen and Allen, 1981).
Both the oil and residues are toxic. Still the presscake is described as a
"useful poultry feed." Seeds are used to poison fish. Still it is recommended as
a shade tree for pastures and windbreak for tea. The leaves are said to be a
valuable lactagogue fodder, especially in arid regions. It is sometimes
intercropped with pasture, the pasture grasses said to grow well in its shade
(NAS, 1980a). Dried pongam leaves are used in stored grains to repel insects.
Leaves often plowed green manure, thought to reduce nematode infestations. Its
into ground as spreading roots make it valuable for checking erosion and
stabilizing dunes. Twigs are used as a chewstick for cleaning the teeth. The ash
of the wood is used in dyeing.
According to Hartwell
(19671971), the fruits and sprouts are used in folk remedies for abdominal
tumors in India, the seeds for keloid tumors in Sri Lanka, and a powder derived
from the plant for tumors in Vietnam. In sanskritic India, seeds were used for
skin ailments. Today the oil is used as a liniment for rheumatism. Leaves are
active against Micrococcus; their juice is used for colds, coughs,
diarrhea, dyspepsia, flatulence, gonorrhea, and leprosy. Roots are used for
cleaning gums, teeth, and ulcers. Bark is used internally for bleeding piles.
Juices from the plant, as well as the oil, are antiseptic. It is said to be an
excellent remedy for itch, herpes, and pityriasis versicolor. Powdered seeds are
valued as a febrifuge, tonic and in bronchitis and whooping cough. Flowers are
used for diabetes. Bark has been used for beriberi. Juice of the root is used
for cleansing foul ulcers and closing fistulous sores. Young shoots have been
recommended for rheumatism. Ayurvedic medicine described the root and bark as
alexipharmic, anthelmintic, and useful in abdominal enlargement, ascites,
biliousness, diseases of the eye, skin, and vagina, itch, piles, splenomegaly,
tumors, ulcers, and wounds; the sprouts, considered alexeteric, anthelmintic,
apertif, and stomachic, for inflammation, piles and skin diseases; the leaves,
anthelmintic, digestive, and laxative, for inflammations, piles and wounds; the
flowers for biliousness and diabetes; the fruit and seed for keratitis, piles,
urinary discharges, and diseases of the brain, eye, head, and skin, the oil for
biliousness, eye ailments, itch, leucoderma, rheumatism, skin diseases, worms,
and wounds. Yunani use the ash to strengthen the teeth, the seed, carminative
and depurative, for chest complaints, chronic fevers, earache, hydrocele, and
lumbago; the oil, styptic and vermifuge, for fever, hepatalgia, leprosy,
lumbago, piles, scabies, and ulcers.
Reported to contain alkaloids
demethoxy-kanugin, gamatay, glabrin, glabrosaponin, kaempferol, kanjone,
kanugin, karangin, neoglabrin, pinnatin, pongamol, pongapin, quercitin, saponin,
b-sitosterol, and tannin. Air-dry kernels have 19.0%
moisture, 27.5% fatty oil, 17.4% protein, 6.6% starch, 7.3% crude fiber, and
2.4% ash. Fatty acid composition: palmitic, 3.77.9%, stearic 2.48.9, arachidic
2.24.7, behenic 4.25.3, lignoceric 1.13.5, oleic, 44.571.3, linoleic
10.818.3, and eicosenoic 9.512.4%. Destructive distillation of the wood
yields, on a dry weight basis: charcoal 31.0%, pyroligneous acid 36.69, acid
4.3%, ester 3.4%, acetone 1.9%, methanol 1.1%, tar 9.0%, pitch and losses 4.4%,
and gas 0.12 cu m/kg. Manurial values of leaves and twigs are respectively:
nitrogen 1.16, 0.71; phosphorus (P2O5), 0.14, 0.11; potash
(K2O), 0.49, 0.62; and lime (CaO), 1.54, 1.58%. Such manure reduces
the incidence of Meloidogyne javanica.
Fast growing, glabrous, deciduous,
tree to ca 25 m tall, branchesdrooping; trunk diameter to 60 cm; bark smooth,
gray. Leaves imparipinnate, shiny; young leaves pinkish red, mature leaves
glossy, deep green; leaflets 59, the terminal leaflet larger than the others;
stipels none; stipules caducous. Flowers fragrant, white to pinkish, paired
along rachis in axillary, pendent, long racemes or panicles; calyx campanulate
or cup-shaped, truncate, short-dentate, lowermost lobe sometimes longer;
standard suborbicular, broad, usually with 2 inflexed, basal ears, thinly
silky-haired outside; wings oblique, long, somewhat adherent to the obtuse keel;
keel petals coherent at apex; stamens monadelphous, vexillary stamen free at the
base but joined with others into a closed tube; ovary subsessile to
short-stalked, pubescent; ovules 2, rarely 3; style filiform, upper half
incurved, glabrous; stigma small, terminal. Pod short stalked, oblique-oblong,
flat, smooth, thickly leathery to subwoody, indehiscent, 1-seeded; seed thick,
reniform (Allen and Allen, 1981).
Reported from the Hindustani Center of
Diversity, pongam, or cvs thereof, is reported to tolerate drought, frost, heat,
limestone, salinity, sand, and shade. (2n = 22)
An Indomalaysian species, a
medium-sized subevergreen tree, common on alluvial and coastal situations from
India to Fiji, from sealevel to 1200 m. Now found in Australia, Florida, Hawaii,
India, Malaysia, Oceania, Philippines, and Seychelles, for example.
Probably ranges from Tropical Dry to Moist
through Subtropical Dry to Moist Forest Life Zones. Withstanding temperatures
slightly below 0°C to 50°C and annual rainfall of 525 dm, the tree grows wild
on sandy and rocky soils, including oolitic limestone, but will grow in most
soil types, even with its roots in salt water.
Seeds, remaining viable for
sometime, require no special scarification. Direct sowing is usually successful.
Seedlings transplant easily from the nursery after about a year. Root suckers
are rather plentiful as well. It is a rapid-growing coppice species that can be
cloned.
Pods are collected and shells removed
by hand. Grown in 30-year rotations for fuel in West Bengal.
Trees of ten
reach adult height in 4 or 5 years, bearing at the age of 47 years. A single
tree is said to yield 990 kg seed per tree, indicating a yield potential of
9009000 kg seed/ha, 25% of which might be rendered as oil (assuming 100
trees/ha). In general, Indian mills extract 2427.5% oil, village crushers,
1822% oil.
Wherever it is grown, the wood (calorific
value 4,600 kcal/kg) is burned for cooking fuel (NAS, 1980a). The thick oil from
the seeds is used for illumination, as a kerosene substitute, and lubrication.
It would seem that with upgraded germplasm one could target for 2 MT oil and 5
MT firewood per hectare per year on a renewable basis. The oil has been tried as
fuel in diesel engines, showing a good thermal efficiency (C.S.I.R., 19481976).
Two rhizobial strains
produced nodules on 18 species of 12 different genera in the cowpea miscellany.
The strains, culturally and physiologically typical of slow-growing rhizobia,
elicited ineffective responses on Clitoria ternatea and Stizolobium
utile. One was ineffective on Lespedeza stipulacea and Samanea
saman. Browne (1968) lists: Viruses. Sandal Spike Virus. Fungi.
Fusicladium pongamiae, Ganoderma lucidum, Phyllachora pongamiae, Ravenelia
hobsoni, Ravenelia stictica. Angiospermae. Cuscuta reflexa, Loranthus
sp. (?). Acarina. Eriophyes cheriani. Diptera. Microdiplosis
pongamiae, Myricomyia pongamiae. Hemiptera. Coptosoma cribrarium,
Drosicha stebbingi, Drosichiella tamarinda. Lepidoptera. Acrocercops
anthracuris, Amphion floridensis, Cydia balanoptycha, Cydia perfricta, Eresia
jumbah, Indarbela tetraonis, Jamides celeno, Phyllonorycter virgulata.
Orthoptera. Schistocerca gregaria. Thysanoptera. Megalurothrips
distalis.
- Allen, O.N. and Allen, E.K. 1981. The Leguminosae. The University of
Wisconsin Press. 812 p.
- Burkill, J.H. 1966. A dictionary of economic products of the Malay
peninsula. Art Printing Works, Kuala Lumpur. 2 vols.
- Chaurasia, S.C. and Jain, P.C. 1978. Antibacterial activity of essential
oils of four medicinal plants. Indian J. Hosp. Pharm. 15(6):166168.
- C.S.I.R. (Council of Scientific and Industrial Research). 19481976. The
wealth of India. 11 vols. New Delhi.
- Hartwell, J.L. 19671971. Plants used against cancer. A survey. Lloydia
3034.
- N.A.S. 1980a. Firewood crops. Shrub and tree species for energy
production. National Academy of Sciences, Washington, DC.
Complete list
of references for Duke, Handbook of Energy Crops
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