Fixed oil content of Jatropha seeds collected from various regions of the Philippines and its extracted oil's physico-chemical properties

Yao and Retamar (ITDI-DOST) conducted the determination of fixed oil content of Jatropha seeds grown/produced in various regions of the country and the physico-chemical properties of the extracted oil to be able to pinpoint which Jatropha varieties should be propagated. The study ran for 5 months from August to December 2006. Findings of the study revealed the following: From the 15 representative samples for the 10 regions in the country, samples from Regions 2, 4, 7, 10, 11, 12, CAR, and Caraga harvested in different times of the year and cultivated from sandy, sandy loam, clay to clay loam with scattered rocks and good to moderate drainage system gave oil yield content ranges from 19.6% to 36.63% for solvent extraction and 3-18% for mechanical extraction using hydraulic press at 20 psi. The top three highest oil yields for the solvent extraction are Jatropha seeds from Palawan at 36.63%, Agusan del Norte at 35.31%, and General Santos at 34.27%. The lowest three were at 21.28% (Bohol), 20.98%(Benguet, CAR), and 19.26% (Zamboanga City). For the mechanical extraction, highest oil yield were given by the seeds from General Santos at 19.00%, Palawan at 16.85%, and Marinduque at 14.49%. Meanwhile, lowest yields were gathered from Cagayan at 8.32%, Benguet, CAR at 4.06% and Bohol at 3.00%. It was found that Jatropha grows almost anywhere, even on gravelly, sandy, and saline soils. It can thrive on the poorest stony soil as well, but grows best in sandy well-drained soils. It would be possible to use idle lands, particularly lands unfit for food crop cultivation, as plantations for the cultivation of Jatropha that can be used to produce in commercial volume a renewable and environment-friendly biofuel. The study recommended that the mechanical extraction method would be economically viable to use in Philippine setting, considering the cost of chemicals and equipment needed in the solvent extraction, need of technical person and operational cost as well. Moreover, fabrication of mechanical extraction equipment is much easier than setting up the solvent extraction in a village type location. A study on the different types of mechanical extraction equipment such as hydraulic press, screw type expeller, ram press among others should also be conducted to determine the maximum yield of extracted oil per equipment.