Hawaii's Special Tree for Non-Food or Paper Pulping Could Be Great for BioHarmony

The University of Hawaii (Honululu, Hi., USA) explained recently on their website (Summer 2018) update about their studies that relate to forestry (and forest product production). The university said a specially engineered tree has emerged as a potentially important feedstock for biodiesel, more specifically jet fuel. As the tree matures, the number of branches, fruit clusters and oil yield increases exponentially. High yielding trees such as this will be able to produce 300 gallons of oil each year from an acre of land when they mature in 3 to 5 years. Since Jatropha is cross pollinated, seed-propagated plants vary greatly in size, shape and oil yield. To ensure high, uniform yields, Jatropha plants must be vegetatively propagated. Given that a high yielding tree can produce a limited supply of planting material, tissue culture or micro-propagation of Jatropha is being investigated as a way to allow large scale plantings to occur.

In addition to oil, Jatropha fruit is a rich source of protein but toxic compounds in the seedcake render it unsuitable for use as animal feed. Efforts are underway to detoxify the meal or genetically modify the plant to enable Jatropha to produce toxin-free fruit that can be used to produce oil for biofuels and feed for fish, poultry, swine and beef.

Jatropha curcas, a perennial, tropical tree growing near Kula, Maui at 8 months after planting from a stem cutting bore fruits continuously from 4 to 7 months after planting, and began fruiting again in the ninth month after planting. The heavily laden tree have fruits containing vegetable oil that can be readily converted into biofuels, and proteins that can be fed to animals. It is estimated that the plants in this field will produce the equivalent of 100 gallons of biodiesel per acre in just the first year of growth. By maturity at 5 years old, the yield could triple.