Jatropa Curcas - The biodiesel medicinal plant

Jatropa Curcas - The biodiesel medicinal plant

Jatropa Curcas or locally known as Tuba in our country was used by our ancestors as a folk medicine for rheumatic pain, snake bites and also insecticides. The leaves are used as medicine for muscle diseases such as rheumatic pain. Simply by applying oil to the leaves and heating by flame and then apply to the skin where the discomfort is. Although it has medicinal properties, the fruits and seeds are inedible and poisonous if swallowed. The leaves have anti-inflammatory properties but are toxic if used internally in excess. The crushed leaves, when pounded and made into a poultice, can be used to treat snake bites and are also effective as an insecticide.

This shrub is upright and the leaves are usually slightly rounded at the base, pointed at the tip and serrated at the edges. Distributed across the Philippines and neighboring Asian countries.

Although this is an important addition to the many medicinal herbs (which you can also find on my website at the resource box link below), it has now been discovered as a good biodiesel alternative or additive. Very cost effective and very close to the chemical properties of (fossil) diesel fuel we use today. Unlike coconut oil or alcohol additives, which are expensive to produce, Jatropa curcas or Tuba are much cheaper. A liter of pure Coco biodiesel would cost over P120 or US$2.50, which is why only small quantities of it can be blended with regular diesel fuel to produce a competitively priced alternative.

Since there is not much demand for Tuba and the plants are very easy to propagate, it is cost-effective. And imagine that you can get 1 liter of oil from 3 kilos of seeds. Unlike coconut oil and alcohol biodiesel, there are no complicated procedures for extracting oil from the seeds. The seeds are sun-dried and ground to extract oil.

India is now a leader in the development of Jatropa curcas biodiesel fuel and now people in our country are becoming aware of it with the help of media. And in the hope that the government will enforce the promotion of this biodiesel fuel. The research and development facility of PNOC Energy Development Corp. in Diliman, Quezon City, is researching jatropha biodiesel production in the Philippines.

India is aiming to plant jatropha in up to 33 million hectares of wasteland. Proponents envision plantations that can produce enough oilseeds from which biodiesel can be made to meet India's current diesel fuel demand of 40 million tons per year. Five tons of jatropha oil seeds can produce two tons of biodiesel.

The Indian proponents of Jatropha biodiesel point out, among other things, that the plants "grow on poorly degraded soils and are able to ensure reasonable seed production with very low inputs. [They are] not grazed by animals [and are] very pest and disease resistant."